It's Beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

Now that we are well into December, it does feel like Christmas, but just a little different. This will be the first year I don't spend Christmas at home, which makes me sad, but it also means I'm doing a lot of traveling in the next few weeks. Anyways, here are some photos of my Christmas season. The first 4 pictures are from a day trip I went on to Zurich last Saturday with my friends Sarah and Anna. Every town/city has a Christmas market this time of year. Basel has one too and they are really fun to just stroll through. Anyways, the first picture reminded me a little of being back home. Old ladies in colorful vests playing Christmas carols on the steel drums. The second one is of some of the lights around the city. Everything is lite up and Christmassy. The next one is a picture of my Christmas tree here at the house. But really, it as in the middle of the Christmas market in the Zurich train station and it is covered in crystals. We do have a Christmas tree at the house, but it is fake and therefor not photo worthy. This last one is the "singing Christmas tree". It was these little Swiss kids singing big gospel music and a few carols as well. The next

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This last photo needs a bit of explaing. It is of me wearing the present I got from Sinterklaas. In addition to Christmas, the Dutch have Sinterklaas on December 5th. What happens is after weeks of leaving out your shoe with a carrot in it, Sinterklaas along with his Zwarte Piets (black Peters) sail from Spain to give presents to good kids. So, around 7pm on the 5th, we were all sitting in the living room drinking wine, listening to Dutch Sinterklaas music and eating chocolate when there was a load bang on the window. The front door swung open and in flew cookies that landed on the other side of the room. There was a sack of presents left for the kids, and well, I guess Sinterklaas still thinks I'm a kid because I got presents too. In addition to the lovely apron seen below, I also got some bath gel, black licorice (yuck), and travel book about Switzerland. It was really fun to see the holidays from a different perspective and culture.

Morocco!!!

Photos: The first is Djemaa el Fna square. Then a man in a scarf store wrapped my head in the traditioanl way. The third is the inside of the hostel we stayed in. The next two are things we say while driving. Then a couple of camel pictures. The man getting the kiss was our driver. Then a picture at the Ouzuod Falls and also in front of the river, followed by the women washing their clothes. The next is one of the great meals we had with vegetables and couscous. Then we did our own version of wrapping our heads in our room. The next is from the camel ride and the last is a picture from the plane of the African coast line.

So, last weekend I went to Africa... he he he. I went to Marrakech, Morocco from Saturday to Tuesday with my au pair friends Katie and Kellie. We walked around the main square or hours, Djemaa el Fna, which, if you'd like to know is the largest square on the African continent!! You could never get bored there. Anyways, I did LOTS of shopping. Haggling is standard and it was of course strange sometimes, but I got the hang of it after a while. I bought, Moroccan slippers, scarves, jewelry and a few other souvenirs for family Christmas presents. Then on Monday we did a private tour. It wasn't intended to be private, but we had a driver and tour guide take us to a typical Moroccan house for breakfast. There was homemade butter, bread, honey, and olive oil. Then we rode camels!!! Even though it was a super touristy thing to do, it was real fun and I kind of bonded with my camel. Then we went on a short hike to the Ouzuod Falls. It was strange because when we were driving the landscape was very arid and flat, then at the water falls it was green with mountains around us. After that we ate a huge Moroccan tajine dish with couscous that was delicious! The place we stayed was beautiful with Moroccan decor and everything worked out well with flights and such. In all, it was an awesome trip. Also, I've posted a lot of pictures from my camera, but I will also post some more from Katie and Kellie's cameras when I get them.

The wonderful Wizard of Oz

Last Thursday night there was a viewing of The Wizard of Oz at the kids school. You could get dressed up and come and sing along with the movie. Because I was the only one in the family that had ever seen the movie and knew the songs, Constantijn and Sterre really wanted me to come. Sterre went as Glenda the Good Witch and Constantijn went as the Lion. I kind of went as the tin man, wearing grey clothes and a hat made out of tin foil. Luckily I didn't go all out because none of the adults dressed up. I hadn't seen that movie in a long time and I forgot how old it was. It was really fun though .

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Last week I also went on a little outing with Romee and we went to go see this "castle" on the other side of Basel. When we got there it was closed and it looked more like a cottage to me, but at least it was a nice drive.

Also, because you are so diligent about reading my blog and I know you'll see this, HAPPY BIRTHDAY WHITNEY!!

Turkey and skating

Thanksgiving is definitely an American thing. I made turkey, stuffing, green beans, and an apple pie for my family on Wednesday night. I got Constantijn and Sterre to make leaves and turkeys out of paper and decorate the table. Sterre made menu cards too. It was really cute, despite the fact that everyone was kind of sick and cranky. Constantijn kept calling Valentine's Day the whole time, no matter how many times I reminded him. Then on Thursday I went to Katie's house for a big Thanksgiving dinner. The family she lives with is American and they had about 20 people over for dinner. I got to eat pumpkin pie and I was so happy!! These two pictures are of the turkey and stuffing I made. It was my first time ever cooking a turkey and the first time the family has ever seen a whole turkey. Don't worry, I didn't eat any, but it wouldn't be a Thanksgiving dinner without a turkey, so I had to make them one. I also made the stuffing from scratch, crumbling the bread and all. I really liked the stuffing.












On Friday I took Constantijn and Sterre ice skating during the day because they had school off. It was rainy so the place was pretty empty. We ate lunch there and skated for about 3 hours. They have these things called ice bears that you can rent for the kids to hold on to to help them keep their balance. Constantijn got one for about 30 minutes and his name was Mino. I fell just once if you can believe it! but the kids won't let me live it down.












This last one is a bonus picture. It's me leaping from France into Switzerland. That block with the "S" on it is the marker, the other side has a "F".

Road Trip

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I got an email a few weeks ago from my friend Lisa asking where in Switzerland I was. I told her Basel, only to find out she had two friend who lived just over the border in Germany and she was coming for a visit. So, this past weekend Lisa came and I met her two German friends, Pascal and Thomas, and we went on a road trip to Zurich to visit another of her friends, Susann. Zurich is only like an hour from here. So on Friday night we went out for traditional Swiss fondue and walked around Zurich, On Saturday we all drove down to Luzern to stay at Susann's parents house. Then we went on an all day snow trek in the mountains nearby. That's where all the snowy pictures were taken. It was sooo beautiful and the snow came up past my knees. Oh, and we bought some of the cheese to eat, just because it looked cool, and it ended up being delicious. So, then on Sunday we went into Luzern, and though I've been there already, it was still really fun. We went on a boat tour of the big lake and then saw the lion in the mountain landmark that I had skipped the previous visits. It was a really fun weekend despite having a cold. I'm almost over it now, but still a bit stuffy. The whole family has it so it was inevitable that I would eventually too. I have more to tell about since this weekend (like getting my haircut and Thanksgiving), but I'll have to write about it later, I'm cooking a turkey for the first time in my life and I have no idea what I'm doing.

the wait is over!!!

Last night I was sitting in my room and I looked outside to see snow falling! I was so excited I started yelling as silently as I could because the kids were asleep. I couldn't stop grinning. But, after only 5 minutes it stopped, just as I was getting on my warm clothes to go play in it. Anyways, today as I was driving home from music class with Romee (every Wednesday morning we have Kindermusik class together!) it started to snow again! I stopped the car and walked around with Romee on the side of the road for a few minutes. It wasn't sticking to the ground or anything, but it as enough to land on me and catch in my hand. It snowed like that for about an hour, but has stopped just a few minutes ago. The first snow is so exciting!! I can't wait to make snowmen and stuff!

waiting for snow

I've been staying close to home the past couple of weeks, since from here on out, I will be doing a lot of traveling throughout November and December. That also means, I've not taken a lot of pictures lately. I did go to a nearby town called Mulhouse (think of it pronounced in a French accent). We walked around and looked in some shops. It was super cold that day, but still nice to see new places. This picture is of me and Romee in front of a cool statue in Mulhouse.

This next picture is to show that fall is almost over and winter is coming real soon. They are actually predicting snow later this week!!

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A funny conversation between Sterre and Constantijn in the back of the car:
Constantijn: Well, I'm not going to marry you anymore Sterre. You're mean.
Sterre: Constantijn, don't you know there is a rule where brothers and sisters aren't allowed to get married.
Constantijn: Who told you that?
Sterre: No one, I just know that it is a rule.
Constantijn: Really?... That's not true because I'm going to marry you and you are my sister.

around Basel

The mom came back from her stay in Holland on Tuesday night, ending my long week, though it was fun playing mom! But, not before we all got a slight cold: stuffy noses, coughs, diarrhea, etc. Tuesday I went down to Basel with Romee and Katie and we had a picnic on the Rhine river (first 2 pics). Wednesday I had the day off , so I went to the zoo with Sarah, another au pair, and then went to Starbucks and talked to friends or 6 hours! Halloween isn't big here at all. In fact, I didn't see a costume the entire day. I saw maybe 5 jack-o-lanterns, and 2 pubs that had any decorations. It was strange to not celebrate this year. But, when I woke up on Wednesday Sterre had made a Halloween display on the counter. The paper said, "It Halloween and be scard." Then she found a plastic ladybug and squirted mayonnaise around it to scare me. It made my day.










So, this weekend I went to Sarah's house for an appetizer party and board games. It was fun and we all got dressed up. Then on Saturday Katie and I ran from Fluh into Basel, about 7 miles, and saw parts of the city we've never seen before. That's what the 3 pictures below are of. There is a big carnival going on downtown as well. We didn't ride anything though, we were too cold wearing shorts.

This is a video of Romee saying "bless you." I taught her it! She isn't very clear, but I promise she is saying it.

Things I did new as MOM:

cooked chicken (but it was actually pork, oops)

made popcorn on the stove

changed diarrhea diapers

Americanized

This past week and especially the weekend was pretty hectic. The mother went to the Netherlands for 6 days, leaving Thursday and coming back this coming Tuesday. That means I really played mom, from waking them up in the morning to putting them to bed at night. The father was here to help at night and on the weekend, but he doesn't get home from work until about 6:30 or 7. So, this weekend I schooled the kids on American culture. We carved pumpkins on Saturday and they were so excited. The father had never seen the inside of a pumpkin before in his entire life. We baked the seeds and made pumpkin soup too. Then the next morning I made what they call American pancakes. They are use to really thin crepe like pancakes and they put powdered sugar on theirs. They ate like 7 each. In the last few days I have done more puzzles, board games, and pretending than I have in a long time.










At nights, after the kids are in bed and stuff, Katie and I go for runs a few nights a week in the countryside close to my house. It is starting to get cold so we have to bundle up, as you can see from the pictures. The last picture is of me posing on big roles of hay that are along the trails. They are fun to jump on.












Over the past week or so Romee has starting calling me something other than mama, which I think the parents were kind of annoyed with the fact she was calling me mama. Anyways, I took this video of her like the second day she started calling me am-bel-ing. She has gotten even better at it since when I took this. She yells my name all around the house, and I like it for now at least. I couldn't figure out how to get the video the right direction, so sorry you have to watch it sideways. We are still working on her saying her own name, but hopefully soon. I've also taught her to say "bless you" whenever someone sneezes. It is the cutest thing, so I often fake sneeze just so I can hear her say it. It's fun teaching kids new words!