Skiing! (and Singing!)

Today we got all adventurous and went by ourselves to Flumserberg. It was a gorgeous day here. We're having a regular heat wave. It got up past 40 today. Wooooo!

I believe if I have my facts straight that Carneval started yesterday. There was all kinds of strangeness going on on the slopes today.


Exhibit A: A giant green human caterpillar



Exhibit B: I don't even know....


And Exhibit C - We're just sitting there enjoying our lunch when this huge group of dudes comes in, they order some drinks and then they bust into song (chant? moan?):



We took a bunch of pictures today. Here are a few of the best. The rest are in an album below.


Question: What happens when you wake Melanie up early, don't feed her and make her carry ski equipment halfway across the country?
Answer: This

At least we got an awesome reflection of the mountains on Andre's snowboard
















Here comes Andre!




real mature Andre, real mature...

Picture Album:

Flumersberg February 18 2012

Melanie Goes to Work!

Swiss News

But first a comment or two: It's snowing like crazy here today! I'd say for the last several weeks, we've had steady snow showers that keep the total accumulation to about an inch. No big deal. Today, I'd guess we're up to about 3 or so already and the snow is still coming down. It's so weird to be at work and not at home avoiding the crazy southern drivers while eating my bread and drinking my milk that I purchased at the grocery store yesterday!

I really am having a hard time focusing at work. It's like my body is programmed to stay home when it snows. I guess that's what 30+ years of living in the south will do to a person.

I did wear my snow boots to work this morning. They look phenomenal with the rest of my work outfit. If you're lucky, I'll let Andre take a picture later.

Anywho, a couple of pieces of news came out today that I thought were particularly interesting.

#1: Confirmation that my timing is generally horrible: Zurich has overtaken Tokyo to rank as the world’s most expensive city for the first time in 20 years
http://business.blogs.cnn.com/2012/02/15/worlds-most-expensive-place-to-live/?hpt=hp_c2

#2: Immigration issues are not limited to the US. It's weird being an immigrant and thinking there are people out there who don't want you here for no reason other than you aren't originally from here. Obviously the issue isn't that simple. Still.
http://www.thelocal.ch/2574/20120215/

Skiing!

We hit the slopes today! We went with 8 other people to Engelberg. According to the Engelberg website: the ski terrain is largely designed for advanced skiers.....

We went straight to the top of the mountain which involved first a gondola ride, second a ride on something called the Titlis (???) and then a third ride up on a circular gondola thingy that spun around. Finally arrived at the top (10,000 ft) and almost instantly died from frostbite. Seriously. It was FREEEEEEEEZING. We took a few pics and then headed over to put on our equipment. About the time I got my skis on, a huge gust of wind came through and almost knocked me flat on my bum. Once recovered, we headed down the slopes. Pretty sure it would be the equivalent of a double black in the states. It wasn't pretty but we survived.

Overall we had a fantastic time. We are super sore already so I'm sure tomorrow will be rough!

Pictures!








Holy Crap! Take the Picture. I'm freezing!



Me in the center. Check out that form!



Rumor is, that's a lake in the summer.

Indianer Nordamerikas

We took this approximately two blocks from our apartment. For perspective, that's me in the entrance.














For more information, please visit: http://www.indianland-museum.ch/

Fun with Numbers!

Instead of a detailed update on the last two weeks, I thought I'd update with some important stats so far:

1 bazillion - Approximate number of times Andre and I have uttered the phrase "holy crap that's expensive!"

579,345 - Approximate number of time I have uttered the phrase "holy crap it's COLD outside!" - I love the actual current forecast for this week - Tomorrow = clear & bitterly cold and Tuesday = frigid with low clouds - not just cold but bitterly cold and frigid - awesome

137,328 - Approximate number of various flavored tiny chocolate squares consumed to date

71 - Number of days since Nov 27 (when I headed off to NYC) that I have been living out of suitcases - We got our shipment this week and I finally got all of my clothes put away today!

50 - approximate number of bottles of wine guzzled to date

28 - number of countries with people attending my training last week - I learned a lot of excellent cultural things - For instance, European men think American men wear their suits 2 sizes too big

5 - number of times I ate lunch WITH people this week! hooray!

4 - number of trips to IKEA in the past 7 day period (the amount of money spent far exceeds 4.....)

3 - number of times I accidentally set off the emergency alarm at work by exiting through the emergency door at work (that's a story for another blog post...)

2 - number of comforters on our bed - in our attempt to be swiss, we've adopted the swiss bed making style - one comforter for each person - this works well for Andre and I - especially since I don't share well :)

1 - # of super fun winter things done to date - today we went ice skating!


I'm ready to skaaate!



April & Jonas



Proof that we can stand on ice!



How cute are these? The penguins are for kids learning to skate!
Please also note, the lady on the left wearing a cow skin for a coat.



Not sure what I'm doing here...



Now that we're finally in our permanent apartment and more or less unpacked, we should have much more exciting Swiss related posts to come!

We're Alive & COLD!!!!

Lots to tell, lots to tell...more posts coming soon. Currently without internet/cable at the new apartment and crazy busy at work.

In the meantime, winter has hit Zürich with a vengeance! It's been snowing for two days straight. A couple of pics:



This is the river that runs right by our new apartment.



This is just outside our building.

If that weren't enough, the high temp for the rest of the week is about 20F. I will not be going to the Alps as the low temperature is expected to be -20 CELSIUS. Holy moly!!!!
http://www.thelocal.ch/2433/20120131/