Random items for today

And my lack of blogging time continues. But:

I've spent time (3x) with a friend from Zurich whose daughter is a Professor at Stanford. Yes, that Stanford. I felt smart just eating at the Faculty Lounge restaurant which we were treated to. And thinking I'd like to go back to school. I don't think I'll get into Stanford.... I digress. It was wonderful to spend time with J and so glad to see her face!

We went to Reno last weekend to visit my mom & J at their house - realized because of living in IA and Switz that we hadn't been there in 9 years! It was such a nice visit and weekend. Mom's friend C was also there so it was great to catch up. We were very fortunate - J was at the Reno Air Races but not in his place in the stands but the pitts (note - there was a tragic accident with a plane and surrounding casualties) . Their friend is a surgeon at the hospital there and only revealed a bit of the trauma before dinner on Saturday. So sad and heartbreaking. Besides that - had a great time and thankful for our many blessings.

I took the girls, including a friend of Rachel's, to a movie this afternoon and have entered a strange new world - that of teenies in CA. Slightly different than teenies in Zurich but with a common adoration for cute boys in movies. Sigh.

We have pictures on the walls!!!!!!!!!!! At least some. I made Bart change the painting over the mantel by 1/2 inch over: "Really, I need to move it." "Yes, really you need to move it." Because I will know it's off by one inch total and someone (or several of you) will come in and realize that somehow it's not dead center. It is now. :)

We have a sofa to sit on!!!!!!!!! The day our container arrived from Switzerland we had the movers take the sectional to my dad's as we knew it wouldn't fit in the new house (too big and clumsy for the room). So we've been using a double seat (smaller than a loveseat) and Rachel's child size chair - fancy!

Getting there. Working through missing people. Working on getting to know new people. Happy to be together and be able to spend time with CA people. And non-CA people visiting CA.

Did I mention it's hot here. In California. It's almost the end of September and we still need the air conditioning. Or I'll melt. And not because I'm the Wicked Witch of the East. Don't ask my family about that one. We have all agreed that since we moved here at the very end of June the weather is boring: sunny and hot, sunny and hot, oohhh, a little marine layer - bingo, burns off by 10am and it's sunny and hot. Not complaining, just realizing that once again I live in a land with pseudo-seasons. Where I will refrigerate my bulbs for a couple weeks before planting them 'cause, hmmm, bulbs are from Holland and I live in....CA.

I'm off now to check on my insomniac child (she's not really but thinks she is) and then sit on my new, comfy couch with the cute boy aka my husband.

Observations as we settle in

Hi! Remember me? The lady who typically drops out of the Blogging world when traveling? But has dropped out primarily due to lack of routine, strangers in the house, a little travel (MN) and trying to figure out how to put things into words again.

I like to internalize things and carry them around in my upper back lately vs getting it all out on the keyboard. Much to the massage therapist and chiropractor's dismay. "Wow" being the most frequent word in their vocabulary when I visit.

Things are moving along with getting settled into the house. We unpacked the rest of the boxes this weekend so the shipping company could come pick up the rest of the "debris." We had lots of debris. Happy to report that there were no broken items in the lot save one piece of pottery which had no sentimental value and one painted egg ornament of Rachel's. It was given to her by our dear friend M in Zurich but in Rachel's typical pragmatic way she said " well, it's an egg - it wasn't going to last forever."

Now that life is settling into a bit of routine: music teachers found, lessons begun, school times figured out, etc..., we notice more of what we miss of the old and what we like of the new. We're a bit 'homesick' right now but it's to be expected.

Friends from our church in Zurich came for a visit last night - their daughter teaches at Stanford - and it was sooooooo good to see them. The husband baptized Rachel in June and they are dear, loving people. Something occurred during the visit that made us laugh and I realize it's time to share some of our observations.

I was in the kitchen and everyone was outside when I heard a loud 'bang' at the door. There is J staring at me - and we both started laughing with realization. She just walked straight into the screen door not realizing it was there. There are no screen doors in Switzerland! We laughed and then starting pointing out all the other "differences" like the trash compactor, the garbage disposal - the filtered water and ice that comes straight out of our refrigerator door.

Other observations:

• Rarely does one have to pay for parking


• Parking spaces are generally big enough for our big car


• People don't signal lane changes/turning any better in CA than in Switzerland


• It feels strang to pass other cars in a right hand lane


• It feels strange not to go 75mph(120km) on the freeway


• In spite of screens, a flyswatter is still needed but I can't find one


• Nutella in the USA is NOT the same as Nutella in Europe (US version has Palm Oil in it)


• Much Chocolate in the USA is NOT the same as in Switzerland (again, US uses Palm Oil a lot)


• We love going to Barnes & Nobles which seems so inexpensive after Orel Fuessli but must start restraining ourselves BUT the library doesn't have everything......especially young adult books by English/UK authors we've come to enjoy and for that one must go to Amazon


• School parking lot may be more ruthless here than in Switzerland - good thing we are so close


• We have air conditioning


• We will not have snow


• Our heavy winter clothes may get used in Tahoe - Or a trip to Switzerland in the future


• We should have bought the tall vase in Italy


• Baseball "pitches" should be refered to as "fields" or "diamonds" in the USA


• We all find ourselves mis-pronouncing "new words" or last names based on our language experiences (so many people mis-pronounce European surnames here..... ;) )


• Things are so spread out here that while we have more "conveniences" we don't have any more time


• CA weather is boring - blue sky, warm/hot - but we're not complaining :)


• Restaurants are loud here - music and people


• Trains are not as clean nor on time as in Switzerland - big surprise


• Much searching is done to find food products without so much sugar in them - bread, sauces, salad dressings?


• We love our wildlife neighbors


• We have fun with our ping-pong table (Kendra is a contender!)


• We're trying to figure out how we ended up with so many pictures/frames for the walls over the years and what will we do with them as our house has more windows than wall space


• Unable to find Nuessli (lamb's ears lettuce) anywhere so far (supermarkets, Trader Joes, Whole foods, etc....) and might have to sneak some seeds in


• The grapes on our grapevine are edible table grapes - the deer and turkeys like them too


• Our passports are gathering dust


• Haven't settled into a cooking groove yet which is not impressing the Bartman


• Stress level in the grocery store is definitely going down though


• Cash back in the check out lines - YES! - no separate trip to the ATM


• There are no supermarkets in the Malls here - a convenience I'm missing


• There have been so many 'technical' changes in the world over the last 5 years, there are things new to us in moving back and can't even list them all


• Church visiting is going well - with the one church we've visited so far (one we used to go to in the area)


• I can understand almost everyone who comes to service/work on things at the house - I need to learn some Spanish, the German is not useful


• School has brought challenges in different ways but things have worked out well - we think?


• Girls have 50%+ more students in their classes in CA vs ZIS - Kendra is in a class of 31 vs 18 - 20 and Rachel's biggest class is 37 vs 18


• Rachel's gone from an 8 class block schedule (longer class times, each class 3x week) to 7 classes every day - without German and Spanish this year, she's down two academic classes from her previous load which hopefully will help the academic curriculum adjustment this year


• We chose this area in part because of what the schools offered - found they still have some of these programs because the Parents fund them, not the State - have written quite a few checks.........


• I've written more checks in 2+ months than we wrote over the 5 years in Switzerland


• There have been adjustment surprises - one day at a time


• Kids really miss ZIS and their friends


• One thinks things should be so much easier here - but its really not - things still take time and patience and persistence


• It's still weird to listen and understand so many conversations around you


• I can click the spell-check on Blogger now and it doesn't highlight my entire post - as it did in Switzerland thinking that I should be writing in German


• Lastly, we could pick up our 'village' of Waedenswil and plunk it into Hacienda Crossings of Dublin (big shopping complex - theatres, restaurants, Best Buy, Barnes & Noble - you get the picture) and it would fit!!!

Whew! Sometimes these changes and differences can be overwhelming. We take it day by day. Amazed at how adaptable one becomes to their environment because 5 years away was 5 years away. It was a different life. Our "Swiss Bubble" as we refer to it. And I'll be honest, there are days I'd like to go back to my Bubble. The pastor spoke at church on Sunday about the "Offense of Jesus." People get offended by Him. How much of the 'offense' is due to human expectation. Because Jesus came to save us from our sins, not our circumstances. How often we expect our circumstances to change because of our belief. People get "offended" because He doesn't do things the way we think He should.

We are very thankful for our circumstances. Hugely thankful that He paid the price for our sins.

One thing that has remained the same - Wednesday is a short school day. It was an "early out" day in Switzerland and it is an "adjusted day" here in CA. Either way, I have to get a move on because Kendra will be walking home in a couple hours and I have things to do!

Caio! Tschuss! Adeiu!

It's Official!

We have a teenager in the house!

Really? Can Rachel really be 13? YES! I think she thought she turned 13 about 6 months ago. That girl. She's funny, sweet, stubborn (wonder where she gets that), quiet, loud (born with volume control stuck!), sensitive, enthusiastic, creative, musical and we love her to pieces!!!

The girls have been on a cupcake craze and I bought them a new "Cupcake Cookbook" recently. Instead of a cake this year, we decorated cupcakes - Birthday girl's choice: Panda's! We had a lot of fun making these and while we all tried making an entire bear at first, it became apparent that we all had our separate talents. I was better at base frosting and the face details, Rachel was great at the crumb covering and ears and Kendra put the heads and arms on. We were pretty hilarious and had only a few Oreo's and licked some frosting while we were at it.

With the household still being a bit chaotic, I was thankful for the first time in many years having available to me in a convenient US of A way: yellow cake mix, premade frosting and various bits that often required a time consuming "search and find" mission in Switzerland. There are things I miss but when it comes to baking items and accessories - US of A has it.

So remiss - I haven't posted any HI pictures! And here we are headed for another family event - Bart's parents 50th Golden Wedding Anniversary! Bart has spearheaded this event with help of his sister in Minneapolis and is ready with program, power-point show and various fun.

But I'm not sitting around in the sun doing nothing(I can't even tell you how many sunny days we've had! Oh yeah, they've all been sunny and hot - this is California summer, not Zurich). The house - still 1/3 in boxes - has been a full time project but should be ready to fully settle into in about 1 1/2 weeks or so. We are ready - new paint, new appliances (they were starting to drop like flies), etc... Soon we can move furniture around again and start to settle. We're still trying to figure out our storage issues. Apparently, I have a large quantity of Christmas decorations, sewing materials/stuff and photo album making supplies. That, of course, is according to Bart. :) Who needs an office at home. Which is also the guest room. Which leaves me wondering where to put my stuff - creative solutions are coming I'm sure.........

I have a lot to do during the day but often find myself not sure where to go in order to stay out of the way:

The front porch was a good place to be while they cut the kitchen countertop!! to fit a new appliance.

The dis-order makes me a little crazy. I know it will be over soon. I am so thankful for where we are and this house God has given us. Someday I can clean the floors and they will actually stay clean until my family comes home from school & work - hahahahaha...... We are enjoying close proximity to some dear friends and family. It's been great to see my dad multiple times - just because he's so close now.

Greatly missing friends in Zurich - knowing new friends/relationships will come. It all takes time. Blessed and fortunate every day.

The real work begins

The title may be a little mis-leading. It should read " the real work began." It began last Monday on the 15th. We've been a little overwhelmed and tired, tired, tired. But we got our container and things are moving with the house so YAHOO!!!

We were a bit concerned (mild statement) that our container would not get delivered as scheduled. It was a week overdue into port and then it was chosen by US Customs for "intensive inspection." Fortunately, our prayers were answered and Customs did not fool around with it and released it quickly (most likely was sniffed and scanned as none of the contents were disturbed). What a blessing!

It arrived into Oakland/Alameda on a container ship similar to the one shown going under the Bay Bridge here:
And showed up on our doorstep that Monday morning - Wow!

It took approximately 1 hour, 10 minutes for them to completely unload the container. Yelling out item inventory numbers and stacking boxes in the garage and driveway, they moved fast.

We had the crew for 2 days and you have to make the most of them while they're there. Day 1 was unpacking the container and then you start to identify what goes where in the house - especially the furniture pieces. Most of it is wrapped so there are times you're not sure what it is. I didn't get a picture of all the "stuffing" as they were so quick to unwrap and stuff it into boxes that were then thrown back on the container.

They worked on reassembling furniture and placing boxes in the proper rooms for unpacking later. Part of the crew (with a little side $$$) also made a delivery to my dad's as our sectional was going to his house in addition to returning a dining room table and some odds and ends. That worked out great as we would otherwise be walking around that piece(s) of furniture.

We had to work out some logistics as we also needed the house painted (interior) and had to wait our turn with the contractor. Painting started this week on Tuesday meaning we would have to leave some items boxed and some furniture "loosely" placed. It's just a little goofy here. In the past we've always painted ourselves but this house has really high ceilings and we just can't do it all. Oh, and Bart is really busy. He just can't do it all.

Here's Bart on the Wednesday he took off after the moving crew was done to help organize and put away what we could. What a mess. Where does it all go?

We didn't consider storage or the lack of when we bought the house. We would still buy this house - we love where it's at. It really hit home as we started unpacking that we had a lot of storage in Iowa (basement! and big closets) and Switzerland (built-ins). We have decent sized bedroom closets but there is little in the way of convenient storage elsewhere in the house - but it is big and airy. Just not equipped with storage. Except the kitchen - lots of storage there! :)

We've also had the "Barbeque" project going. The "island" has been ready - 3 weeks earlier than estimated! - and we've had to hold off delivery until our preparation for it is completed. There were Jasmine bushes to tear out, wood railing to be sanded(Susan), primed and painted(Bart & girls) and an electrical outlet (Gpa Paul) to be finalized before it can go in. We're almost done! Bart has just a little painting left. We'll enjoy it when it's done.

While the rest of the house is still "in flux" (exception is Rachel's room now that paint there is finished - she is Bart's "mini-me" - can we all give an "Amen") I am most comfortable when the kitchen is all in place. Day 1 of the move - afternoon:

Day 2 of the move - evening:

The move-in of everything caused another shift in the tenuous balance of the Olson's readjustment period so there have been many a "not so many sleeps" nights. K started sleeping in our bed again (thankful we switched to a King!) and Rachel standing next to the bed saying "I can't sleep" and our responding "nothing we can do - lay down and relax." Makes us all a little crazy - I'm having the same problem some nights. Plus - school was starting (yesterday morning) and we were a little concerned that we were all overtired.

Naturally, as nothing has really gone to plan, the painting started on Tuesday (originally scheduled for previous Thursday) - the night before school. So the girls were on air beds in the Family room and Bart and I have moved into the guest room. Bart & I have to stay there until our new blinds arrive - I'll have to get a pic posted of our "open" space. The painters have been great though and made the girls rooms a priority so theirs were done by Wed. noon and they were able to sleep in their own beds again - and they slept all night! Hallelujah!


I don't have pic's of the girls together on the first day of school. Their departure time is about one hour different: Rachel leaving by 7:25 and Kendra at 8:20. They can both walk to school and they both had a good first day! I don't necessarily want to Blog all the personal things that go on with moving countries and schools but those of you who've done it will know and those who think about it will understand - it's a stressful period. What a sigh of relief and a "thank you Lord" yesterday afternoon when we talked about their day.

I feel like a new kid too! I still know our banker more than anyone else in the community - all the wire transfers to pay remaining bills in Zurich....... I even think Rachel had a better day than Kendra which suprised me. I think that subject is a post of it's own.

Kendra leaving for 5th grade:

Rachel ready for 8th grade - she'll officially be a teenager next week!

All I know is that time flies - whether you're having fun or not!

Which way did it go?

HI!!! Back again. Another trip. To Hawaii to visit the family and celebrate the 1st Birthday of my sister's twins. No pictures as I haven't had time yet to unpack my suitcase let alone download pictures but here I am on the Blog.

The warnings that Re-patriation (return to the Home Country) is harder than the leaving are to be headed. It is. Can't always explain it but it's a different adjustment. The school counselor put it well to Rachel this morning "make sure if something doesn't make sense, you speak up - even though the teachers will be notified you've come from overseas/Int'l school, you look and speak like any other kid around them and they won't know that things are different for you unless you say something." We don't look or sound different but we sure feel that way.

Good News! Our sea-going container of household goods finally reached the Port in Oakland/Alameda.

Bad News! US Customs randomly selected our container for intensive screening. Part of the "harder" of Re-patriation in our book.

It may be that it will still get released quickly but depends on their backlog and whether they want to take a quick peek or deeply dig into our stuff. I can say for the record - there are no verboten, re-sale, weapons, flammable, animal, plant, food product or otherwise forbidden items in our container. So I don't care other than I don't want yet another person touching my stuff when I'm not looking. Just creeps you out a little - or a lot. And we're still rattling around this empty house.

So I'll show off the container for you. After you see the Magic Box.

Magic Box:

This box contains ALL the pieces necessary to put ALL the disassembled items of furniture back together. It is a very, VERY important box. US Customs better not mess with it. Just sayin.'

A lot of people wonder how the boxes/furniture got out of our house and to the container. No one wants to traipse all down 120 steps to the garage area. Everything was entirely boxed and wrapped (patio furniture included!) then loaded onto this small truck via the wanderweg (walking path) next to our house and driven and reloaded into the container. I don't know how many trips they made.

But they made quite a few because I became a bit concerned that what I saw still in my house would not fit into what appeared to be a quickly filling container. The crew chief was pretty sure it would all fit but wasn't fully committed until the end. He said the Swiss tend to pack heavier with the paper wrapping than other shipping companies so they take up more space. Apparently they used over 7 kilos (18-20 lbs or so) of paper on our kitchen items alone. My gosh - we had a 40 ft container, surely it would all fit???

It did. Snug and tight with a bit left over. Not much left over.

Our container has gone by truck from Waedenswil to Basel, loaded on a ship for its trip up the Rhein River to Rotterdam, loaded on a cargo vessel which traveled Rotterdam to Oakland via the Panama Canal and is sitting and waiting it's final destination by truck when released.

I wish we could have earned some miles for freight. Praying the customs process is speedy.

It will be a real treat when this shows up at our door.

Hmmm - What will the neighbors say?