7 Ways to Impress a 7-year-old...

How to impress a 7-year-old

-Play Snap.  Have hands which snap at the speed of sound.  "You're so fast.  You're so good." (I may have got so carried away with winning this game that I cut her hand with my fingernail).

-Make Cauliflower Soup.  Yes, I know it sounds dubious (it's not - it's really good and it's made in 10 minutes!).  However: "This soup is my best soup.  Of all soups, this is my bestest best."

-Make Sock Puppets.  "Wow.  You have such good ideas.  You always have such good ideas!"

-Mend the hole in her stockings.  "What?!  I cannot see the hole anymore.  You are so good at this."

-Fix the broken DVD player.  Open a hard-to-open door.  Sharpen all the pencils.  

So, as you can see, it's not so difficult, and it's kind of like having your own little fan club following you around all the time.
In other news, it's still cold. 

My favourite swimming spot - covered in snow!

I'm glad I'm not a duck

It got down to -14° today.  Burr!  This  might be the coldest I have ever experienced Zurich. 
But it was lovely and clear and sunny and I went for a (chilly) walk to the lake.  It's crazy to think we swim down here in summer and have picnics and bbq's.  I've never seen snow down here before and I'm glad I'm not a duck. They looked kind of cold.
I read in a very reliable source that many places in Switzerland are having their coldest February in 30 years.  Which makes me feel cold just thinking about it, so I shall now take myself off to my warm, happy place. 

Love

I found this beautiful arrangement of oranges waiting for me on the kitchen floor.  It's a love heart, in case you were wondering, and it's because she "likes me sooooo much". 

I'm back in Zurich.  Sorry for not telling you here in Blog Land.  It has been a crazy and wonderful few weeks, hopefully a couple of blog posts to come on that.  I spent 3 weeks in Kassel, Germany, at the Universitat Kassel, learning all sorts of things about German culture, language, history, and literature.  I even got to practice a few German folk dances and learn how to make a traditional German meal. 

But now I'm back in Zurich, pretending I'm an Au Pair again.  Just for a few weeks, before I start my semester in Munich in March. 

For those who have forgotten that I have a Swiss family, or who did not read my last blog...I live with a family with 3 girls, My Little Friends 1, 2 & 3.  However, due to the confusion which kept appearing in the last blog (www.chaupair.blogspot.com), henceforth these beautiful girls will now be known as N (13 yrs), L (10 yrs) and A (7 yrs).

It is A who continues to make beautiful love hearts for me everywhere.  It's so lovely to come back and find the girls are still the same, even though it has been 2 years since I lived with them.  They are still quite sweet, sometimes vague, with excellent English, and are blossoming into kind and warm-hearted girls. 

We were listening to music the other day and A asked if I knew the song "Hang...Hang...something"?  She then hummed the tune, and I realised she was talking about 'Hangover' by Taio Cruz.  I hid my horror that she had been listening to this song and said yes, I did know this song.  She wanted to play it, and then I heard her singing...."I've got a Handy* cover...wo-oh...I've da da da da da da da...I've got a handy cover, wo-oh..."  It made perfect sense to her, who wouldn't want a handy cover?

(*Handy is German for mobile/cell phone)


It's freezing outside.  -7° today, to be exact.  We've had quite a bit of snow, considering we're in the city, and it does make me a little homesick for the sun.  But the white blanket that is currently covering everything does make it quite beautiful and fresh and (quite) crisp.

I took this photo quickly when A and her friend were picking up another friend on their way to school.  Their matching coats and hats make me laugh, becuase A particularly asked for this hat in the shop, and her Mum (M) only found out later that it was because quite a few other girls in her class have the same one! 
Peer pressure, it gets 'em early.

"When love is most extravagant, it is least wasted.  Hope and love don't know the meaning of efficiency"
 ...I read that this week, and a heart of oranges has been a beautiful reminder. 

Post Christmas Cookies

Baking heaven.

Don't tell my Mum but I just made cookies from shop-bought cookie dough and THEY ARE DELICIOUS.
They're supposed to be Christmas cookies but these ones are post Christmas cookies and I put on 10 kg just looking at them.

Why have I never made these before?!  I feel like the Swiss have been hiding this secret from me. From packet to mouth in 6 minutes.

5 wunderschöne Dinge

I just opened my computer for the first time since I left home.  What's it been....a week?  10 days?  I had to truly think about what day it actually is....so that either means I'm on holidays or severely jetlagged.
Let's go with Option A, Holidays.

Ah, holidays.  The last 10 days or so have felt all too familiar, which is nice.  Kind of like I was only here last month...(contrary to popular opinion, I was not).

Coming back to Zurich last night on the train I was overwhelmed again by the amazing scenery - the Alps just never get old and IT IS SO BEAUTIFUL. 









Loved spending Christmas up in the mountains.  It's a completely different world up there...besides all the extra snow.  Top 5 Highlights of 5 days in the Mountains (Davos):

1.) Success in Cooking a Turkey.
Would you believe, that I, having never (I don't think) eaten a turkey before(!!) cooked a turkey?!  And, not only a turkey, but, if I may say so myself, amazing stuffing AND gravy.  I'm still in shock.  I did feel a little like I was sitting down to a Thanksgiving Dinner on Christmas Day....(I blame this on Hollywood) and I was too squeamish to actually put the stuffing IN the turkey myself, however, I CAN COOK A TURKEY!

Done like a (Turkey) Dinner...and what is Duplo doing on the Table?!

2.) Skiing.
I know, I know.  Last time I went skiing I swore to never repeat the act.  This time, I did the same thing.  Next week, I'll probably say it again.  However, once I survive the treacherous act that is a ski lift, I love being so high up in the mountains with such a clear view of the sky.
(PS. Thanks to Nat for her expert tutelage and patience)

3.) A REAL Christmas Tree with REAL candles.
On Christmas Eve (when Christmas is actually celebrated in Switzerland) we went to the little church in Nick & Nat's village where the school kids were performing a few songs and a play.  I made up the dialogue in my head as it was actually in Swiss German, and it was a pretty interesting play (if I do say so myself).  However, the cool thing was the Christmas tree.  It reached the roof of the 2 story church and the teenage boys sit up on the second story and light the candles.  Nat told me it's always the same - some sort of rite of passage for this age group - you are allowed to be a part of the tree lighting. 
Looked a little to me like the Swiss allow pyromanic tendancies to develop in teenage boys, however I was more worried about a lit Christmas tree in a church made almost completely of wood.  And I was up on the second story with no easy escape.
So between making up the dialogue for a Swiss German Christmas play and planning my escape route, you can imagine I was pretty busy.

Nick & Nat's REAL Christmas tree with REAL candles

 

4.) HC Davos (Switzerland) v. Vitkovice Steel (Czech Republic).
This ice hockey game would have to be one of the coolest things I've ever seen. I felt very lucky to be invited to go with my Swiss family to a Spengler Cup match (HC Davos v. Vitkovice Steel)...the atmosphere was crazy and professional ice hockey is soooo fast!  I now understand why they think cricket is a slow game!
I also learnt some German chants useful for ice hockey games.  You never know when these will come in handy.

5.)  --
Ok, so I don't have a fifth highlight.  The title was just catchy.
But, in general, I'm just quite happy to be here.  It feels a little like home.  Getting used to understanding nothing again, losing whatever English I did have, Slipping and sliding on ice, Eating good chocolate and drinking gluwein, Sparkling Apple Juice!, Dry lips and catching up with many good friends.
I'm heading to Kassel on January 1st, for an intensive 3-week German course (language + culture) and then am planning on heading back to Zurich for a few weeks before I start my semester in Munich. 

Auf Wiedersehen! und Ich wunsche dir ein frohes neues Jahr!

I still run for trains

It didn't take long for old habits to return.  First train I went for...I was running late (not my fault) and I although I ran, I missed it.  
Swiss trains 1.  Kylie 0.
Later that day I found myself running down the road for the train...and had to laugh.  It felt like Déjà vu.  Bag, scarf, coat flying behind me, running past the ticket machine, throwing some money in it's direction, only for my efforts to be in vain as the train pulled away just as I got to the platform.  
Swiss trains 2.  Kylie 0.


Have been fighting jet lag for the past 4 days, but starting to feel more human again today.  Once again, I am typing away on a strange European keyboard which I blame for this short post.  However, Mum (and others who were wondering) I am here...safe and sound.  Zürich was amazingly white and snowy and beautiful when I arrived, and now up in the mountains near Davos, there is plenty of snow and ensuring there will be a white Christmas.

And now I am cooking croissants, enjoying Swiss bread, and about to make a pavlova (just to keep Christmas a little bit Australian).  I think I've also said I will cook a turkey for Christmas dinner (what was I thinking...never cooked a turkey in my life).

It's so lovely to be seeing friends again and those Swiss Francs again.  (First day I arrived, there was a 1000 CHF ($1000) note on the bench...ah, yes.  Indeed I am in Switzerland).

Frohe Weihnachten!

I am the official Door Opener

I was reminded of good things tonight.
Every now and then I join an excellent group of people who join together to take uni students who live on campus to Woolies. It's a bit of a hike for the students otherwise, especially with lots of shopping and so they're only too happy to jump onboard our bus of fun for a 5 minute drive to buy groceries as we go back and forth.
I act as the official door opener and professional conversationalist. I never knew I had it in me - to begin so many conversations - but I just keep talking until some unsuspecting person is tricked into chatting with me for the ride.

Tonight, a guy got on who I've seen around uni. To be honest, not the person I would generally talk to. If I had to stereotype myself and him.
But tonight, he was lucky enough (unfortunate enough?) to sit next to me. I talked about uni and holidays and Woolies and he grunted a couple of times and I thought, this is going to be an extra long 5 minutes. But I kept talking to myself and then he started talking. And had really good things to say. And then he initiated the conversation on the way home. He initiated conversation and questions about human rights and women's rights...and the oversecularisation of our culture....and community work. And was seeking real depth and answers to big questions.

Not that I have those answers, but I was thankful for the reminder that people are people. It doesn't matter what they look like, or who I think they are from their appearance.
And that we seek truth and goodness. And that my worldview is small, and God's worldview is big. Much, much larger than what I think or believe.

"We can name Jesus, orient out lives around him, and celebrate him as the way, the truth and the life, and at the same time respect the vast, expansive, generous mystery that he is."