I am from........ by Rachel Olson

Hello! Back again and I think, I think things are going to settle into a routine and I may, I may be able to bring myself to the computer a bit more frequently.

I would love to share this poem Rachel wrote for an English assignment this week. I'm sharing it without editing so don't feel a need to correct her mistakes - this is how she'd put it if she were talking it out.

I shared a bit from the Art of Coming Home a while back. The transition has certainly had it's ups and downs. This poem reflects, in my mind, how Rachel as a "Third Culture Kid" (seriously, there's a whole book on this topic) sees herself. I thought it was beautiful and maybe it's just me, the mom, speaking but you can let me know:

I am from dusty old scrapbooks filled with happy memories. I am from foreign yearbooks sitting at the bottom of a closet shelf. I am from new pop CD’s and gossip magazines. I am from dark and milk creamy Swiss chocolate. I am from Thanksgiving pumpkin and apple pie making. I am from a hundred pens scattered all over desks and tables in my house. I am from peach colored sheep paintings from Stockholm. I am from camera’s that capture wonderful moments on trips to the Italian Riviera.

I am from nagging old habits. I am from dark sky blue Faberge eggs of Russia. I am from good-smelling perfume air freshener from France. I am from scenic postcards written by dearest friends. I am from funny and girly birthday cards going back to three years old. I am from the Harry Potter books, dark, mysterious and thrilling. I am from the mythical books of Percy Jackson, romantic and exciting.

I am from skiing on large, majestic Swiss alps, covered in powdery, crystal snow. I am from swimming in a deep green lake. I am from friends that will stay by my side through dark, scary and horrible times. I am from cream colored, silk soft sand of Oman. I am from computers that take seven minutes to start up. I am from a closet so messy that you can hardly see the cream colored carpet below.

I am from thick, delicious, moist vanilla cake with sugary, creamy chocolate frosting. I am from brown tinted sunglasses that are always clouded with finger prints. I am from a bright, lime green elementary school with windows framed with bright, strawberry red.

I am from long, steamy, and hot showers. I am from warm, moist Abigbrot eaten with hot and spicy chili on a cold winter night. I am from soft, sandy beaches with clear, turquoise water; lapping gently against the shore. I am from below zero degrees winters, with fresh snow every morning. I am from Christmases filled with mirth and warmth, from opening beautiful presents in the morning and playing in the new fallen snow in the afternoon. I am from these happy, sad and angry moments.

I can think of many other "froms" she could have shared but it's her work and reflects how she sees herself at this time. I'm from a lot of those places too.

What's been goin' on

Busy, Busy, Busy.

Time for some pictures and a bit of what the Olson's have been up to the past few weeks. I'm going backwards as I'm writing this on the return of a whirlwind trip to - Guess?Does the red, double-decker bus give you a clue? My shiny, clean face devoid of makeup as I intend to go straight to bed after the show? Yes, London!!! I did not sleep (dosed about 45 min.) on the flight over so this is me at about 28+ hrs. I don't remember much of the first half of Billy Eliott but was awake for the 2nd Act.

Why London? A wonderful friend from Zurich was in London to celebrate a special Birthday with another wonderful friend who moved there in April who was hosting other wonderful friends (also from Zurich) for the weekend. Follow? My wonderful husband who knew I was missing friends and that's it's been a time of adjustment, looked into tickets and gave me the "hall pass." So I was a surprise for the Birthday friend - and she was VERY surprised. It was fun to be a surprise!

On the River Thames. Advertising - A-hem! But if we show our ID we can get a discount ...... :)

The surprise activity for the weekend was a high-speed boat excursion on the River Thames. Next to skiing fast together, we enjoyed this immensely - Thank You L for arranging this and treating us to such fun!

After the thoroughly fun but chilly ride on the Thames, we were off to celebrate the Birthday girl at a lovely! hotel tearoom.

It was so beautifully arranged. They had several pieces of furniture that were "just what I'm looking for" but, of course, one can't take off with hotel furniture in ones' small suitcase.

Along with eating, boating, theatre-going and visiting, there was a bit of shopping to do. L lives in the Hampstead area and it was so fun to see a different part of London.

I'm so thankful for these friends and for the trip - quick as it was. It also felt natural to be back in a place where you can walk out the door, go a few blocks and catch a train, taxi, bus to your destination. Being in the suburbs again, I actually miss that. Especially with a larger group of people - we never had to worry about whether there were enough seats in the car.

It was also good to see friends I miss in a place other that Switzerland. Although it's very nice where we live in CA, I was happy to move from it 9 years ago and really had no idea we'd move back. It's really taking me some time to acclimate (some things are easier than others) and with work being done on the house, haven't "gotten out" as much as I thought I would have at this point. It's best NOT to visit the place being missed at this time but great to visit with the people. Plus - the birthday girl and her Hub will be visiting us in November which we are really looking forward to.

Before that trip - and in keeping with the spirit of Swiss culture - Rachel had an assignment for her Foods class that we worked on. They are to prepare and give a bit of background on a food from their heritage or culture. As we lived in Switzerland for 5 years, certain aspects became a part the family culture.

Such as the Grittibaenz:

Grittibaenz are a traditional bakery dough men made in November/December. Ours are looking a bit "special" (dough men vs Aliens?) but Rachel's class really enjoyed them and she felt good about sharing this part of her life. Can I add that I love the workspace of our kitchen island. LOVE IT!

We also spent a weekend with our friends in Fresno again and to watch the young man below play a bit o' Football - American style. We brought the girls instruments so they could practice and have a little jam session. Knowing the girls as some of you do, what's wrong with this picture:

Yes, they played their own instruments a bit and then decided to switch it up - J is a naturally gifted musician (plays contrabass, electric bass guitar and drums) and within minutes had Kendra's cello going - another instrument in the H house? Rachel had fun on his bass and Kendra enjoys the violin when Rachel leaves her alone to just play it......

And before the Fresno weekend, we had a weekend in Reno with my mom and J. We had a great time visiting and went up to Virginia City - and old Silver mining town.

I do believe I mentioned that trip now that I type it out...... losing my mind. While I know I mentioned Bart's parents Anniversary in Minneapolis, I never did share pictures. It was great to celebrate such an anniversary with them. This cake? This cake was GONE. During clean-up I checked to see if any was left and there was just a smudge of frosting on that plate. I did not swipe at the smudge 'cause I was being well mannered. But if no one had been watching????

With Bart's parents and sister Siri - we had a great time. Happy Anniversary!

So I'm now off to do laundry, make more Grittibaenz (Kendra decided to use them for her class project too) and shuttle kiddo's to music lessons.

And to my husband for all his love, kindness and support - Thank You! I'm glad I decided 19 years ago to not be "just friends."

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.