We not only have permanent sunshine, we can also gaze at the moon right from our balcony! Life is good!
It’s the 5th of the month again – time to ask “what are you actually doing the whole day?” (a question that I indeed ask myself every so often…).
My day started at around 4am when Karsten entered one of his “I am sleeping, but my body feels like doing some workout”-phase. Something I had to face quite a lot during the last nights, so I am thinking about sleeping in the guest room this weekend. At 5:30am the little alarm clock went off…far too early, so I took the alarm and cuddled, hoping that it’ll snooze for another hour. But no, the little one decided to be terribly tired yet not in the mood for some deep sleep. So she twiddled with my arm (have I mentioned that she is obsessed with arms?). She twiddled with my arm for a solid hour and a half. At 7am when she was still pretending to be too tired to wake up yet scratching and squeezing my arm so it was impossible for me to go back to sleep either, I lost my patience and decided that we can as well get up (yes, I do loose my patience sometimes and I admit that this morning I probably woke Karsten up by loosing it as the patience was shouting “Jesus Christ, just close your eyes and sleep, but stop twiddling my arm!!”). So, morning milk bottle (prepared to the sound of a tired toddler) and afterwards quick shower and a coffee.
Later that morning the little one and I went to the singing class. I have mentioned the singing class before….by now, we are attending the second course. It’s still just my friend and myself. And we are still singing one song for the whole 45 minutes. But the little one loves it, so I am happy. Though she is developing some quirks. I especially love the moment when the teacher says “Now please take your baby and hold it on your lap!”. At that point, the little one starts to revolt loudly and runs away. Typically, she’ll sit on the teachers lap a minute later, being completely content. Not sure if I should take it personally? As soon as the music starts, the little one starts dancing which is really cute. But god forbid if I want to do something with her together. Another typical situation: the teacher sits at the electric piano and plays the song while we are supposed to dance in a circle (yes!). So: my friend and her son are dancing in a circle, the teacher plays piano, the little one hides behind the teacher and I have to hop around alone, feeling slightly odd. I sometimes wonder if there is a hidden camera somewhere.
After the singing, it’s always hard to arrive back home without the little one falling asleep. The construction side in our street helps as she is always keen to wave at the digger. And today our grass was mowed which is always another highlight for the little one. So, after a quick lunch I put her down to sleep and luckily she was tired enough to sleep for more than two hours, yeeeeeh! I decided to leave the housework alone and relax and actually managed to watch “the perks of being a wallflower” while I was eating lunch….YEAH!
The afternoon was relaxing too. With the little one being in a good mood (I love well-rested toddlers!) and no appointments, we played a lot, had some fruits and went outside to meet our neighbour’s kids at the playground. With her 14 months the little one is extremely independent. She even manages to slide down the slide on her own and with the other kids around she is more than occupied. Karsten came home early as he is looking forward to the weekend and we had some nice time in the sandbox. He made plans for tomorrow which will give me a free Saturday morning (our neighbour wants to borrow our child and the carrier in order to practice as he is going to be a father too. Though he still needs to adapt to the daily schedule…his plan was to first sleep long and then enjoy a cosy breakfast with his wife before he goes for a walk at around lunchtime. Haha. Nice try. If you want to practice walking with a child, you should do it under real conditions ;-)).
The evening was, guess what, relaxing too. Mainly because I was too lazy to cook, so we had one of the very rare moments where we order take-out food. Actually I would love order take-out more often but since a simple Thai-Curry costs 20CHF as take-out (welcome to Switzerland!) I normally decide to cook myself (which is of course so much more healthy, yes, yes, I know). The food was delicious and well worth the money (!), and it was followed by the normal evening routine. Now the little one is sleeping and we’ll continue the relaxation with a movie. Karsten is about to make some popcorn after he asked my permission. (Yes, he has to get my permission to do popcorn. Because the first time he tried to do popcorn I was sitting in the living room with our friends when Karsten suddenly ran to the balcony with a smoking pot in his hand, shouting “it’s burning, it’s burning”. And the second time he destroyed my salad bowl as he tried to do it in the microwave and didn’t expect the glass to crack. Well. This time he promised to use the ovenware.).
So, I hope you are all doing well and I wish you all a good evening and a nice weekend! Cheerio!
Every now and then, Karsten and I get nostalgic. And when we get nostalgic, we either think of the good old times during our studies (in particular of all our friends and some memorable parties). Or we think of Scotland. The latter happens pretty often while we are drinking whisky. Or when it’s raining outside. Or when we visit a botanic garden. Or when I work in the garden. So basically pretty often. And with Scotland being in the news so often right now due to the upcoming referendum I thought I’ll wallow a bit in old memories.
Karsten and I went to Scotland after we finished our studies in Germany. He decided to do a Master in Edinburgh, I decided to do an internship. I always wanted to visit Scotland, so it was an easy decision and it turned out to be one of my best ones too.
We had the most amazing time in Scotland. It was the year we rented our first flat together – one room with a bed, a couch and a table, a kitchen where you could reach everything without even moving, and a bathroom where Karsten could only sit angulary on the toilet. A flat with mold on the walls, a general temperature of 14°C and around 80% humidity. We knew it was summer because we had to undress when leaving the flat.
It was the year when we discovered our passion for whisky – although the first whisky we ever had was a Laphroig offered by our landlord and we were almost put off (for those among you who don’t drink whisky: Laphroig is the one where the whole room starts smelling like a turf pit). But given my job and our Scottish friends, whisky soon turned into my favorite drink to have in Scottish pubs (it also turned out that I get groggy after one cider but I can still recall my steps after several whiskies).
It was the year I visited amazing places, met amazing people, learned how to sea-kayak, learned how to properly use a mattock, danced a reel in a Georgian costume, got my nickname killerqueen, broke a log during spontaneous highland games, learned to appreciate haggis, got engaged , saw the Queen, ate a deep-fried mars bar and spent a night with the ashes of Alfred Adler. It was an awesome time!
We spent most of the time in Edinburgh and its surroundings and we couldn’t have wished for a more beautiful city to live in. The center is divided into two parts – the Old Town and the New Town. No matter what you are looking for, you’ll find it. Narrow, medieval streets and closes? Palaces? A castle? Old, mysterious graveyards (including some mysterious business)? Farmers markets? Cosy pubs? Live music? Expensive pubs? Fancy businesses? Classy buildings? The house of the First Minister, without any visible guards? Greek architecture? Georgian architecture? An old volcano? University with vibrant student live? Homeless people in front of the supermarket? Drunk rugby fans in the trains? Beautiful museums? The sea? History? Stories? All there!
The only things we truly missed while we were living in Scotland where beer gardens, good bread and more small individual shops. With small individual shops I mean small bookshops, shops for children without selling only Disney toys, tea shops (maybe that’s a German thing though…I am used to drink “loose” tea, something I have rarely seen in Scotland)…With bread I mean..well…German bread. Probably a German thing too. And beer gardens…ach ja, another German thing. Maybe the weather is just not right for a big beer garden supply in Edinburgh. But on the few days with warm sunshine after work you really don’t want to sit in a dark pub, do you?
In two weeks, the Scots (and everyone else permanently living in Scotland) are going to vote for or against Scotland’s independence. I am curious how it’ll turn out. I don’t have an opinion yet though I am a little bit sceptical whether a small country’s economy should nowadays be mainly built on oil reserves, but oh yes, Scotland certainly has its own soul and it would be a historic moment if Scotland finally got independent! The only thing we hope is that no matter how the result will be we’ll always have the chance to return to this beautiful country!!
Lots to do this weekend! No, nothing special, just a lot of laundry, baking, cleaning and relaxing, so there’s not much time to write. Therefore, I’ll just post a few pictures from yesterday. We went to the Old Botanic Garden in Zurich and afterwards visited friends for coffee and cake. The Old Botanic Garden belongs to the university and is situated in the centre of the city, yet I don’t think many tourists visit it. It’s relatively small compared to other Botanic Gardens but has some beautiful old trees and is an indispensable oasis for people who are crazy enough to spend a weekend day in the centre of Zurich. The traffic noise almost disappears and so do all the endless crowds of people.
Have a nice Sunday everyone!!
Days and days of rain? HA! No reason to despair! Because we now got permanent sunshine in our flat!
It’s a wedding present by one of my best friends which she made herself (its wood partly covered with leaf gold). Depending on the time of the day, it glows sometimes more, sometimes less, but it always has a slight glint. Since we fixed it on the wall, the little one always waves at it when we enter the flat. The most beautiful time for it is at around 10:30 pm when we switch on our bedside lamps and the light which falls through the open door creates a slight warm shimmer.
A few days ago, we caught up with some friends on some news. We had a nice evening, chatted about this and that, until I asked about the wife’s job. She mentioned she’ll only do the job for a certain time anyway and when I asked about her plans afterwards, they looked at each other, then looked at us and told us their plan. They are going to buy a goat farm in Southern France and become farmers.
Wham.
A goat farm? Southern France?
In case you are wondering: no, they don’t have any experiences with running a farm. Nor do they have any experience with goats. But they are going to do it anyway. Because it has been a dream of both of them. Even before they met, they dreamed about buying a farm one day. And that’s what they are doing now.
I mentioned that this sounds like a brave thing to do. They answered that, for them, it was an easy thing to do. A brave thing would be to stay here and continue to work in an environment where it is expected to collect overtime without ever taking it. Where it is expected to work until late evening although you have a family at home. Where it is expected to work on weekends, just like that, although again you have family at home. Where you get two-year contracts and never know where you’ll end up after that time. An environment where you are just seen as work power and not as human being anymore.
So, a goat farm. In Southern France.
That evening, Karsten and I had troubles falling asleep. Both of us were thinking about this goat farm. And about dreams. And both of us tried to think of something that would be the equivalent of a goat farm in our lives.
It’s not easy. I am still thinking about it and I guess I will be thinking for quite a while. I don’t have such a strong dream that I could immediately name. I always wanted to be a writer. But the reason why I don’t follow that dream is because I am not disciplined enough to sit down and write a book. Maybe that means I wouldn’t be a good writer anyway. After I did an internship at a beautiful open-air-museum in Northern Germany I decided that my dream job would be to be responsible for the interpretation of this museum. To live at the Baltic Sea, cycle to work every day and spend the work day in such a beautiful environment. To tell stories.
But is that comparable with a goat farm? I don’t think so. It’s not like giving up everything to start something completely new.
At the beginning of this year, a youtube video made it into the news. A student at a university poetry slam session with a text about the song “one day” (baby we’ll be old and think of all the stories that we could’ve told…). About the procrastination and the laziness of today’s generations. About the dreams that are never lived because no-one decides to follow them and because no-one dares to make mistakes.
There is nothing better to made you rethink your life than someone your age who buys a goat farm. But I still haven’t come up with a similar dream. I am not talking about traveling or about doing a bungee jump. I am talking about life-changing decisions. Life-changing decision that completely excite you because it’s something you always, always wanted to do.
And yes, of course is the little one a dream of us that came true. But that’s something different. You can’t build your whole happiness around a child, can you? After all, that’s pretty unfair towards the kid. And one day, the children will grow up and will life their own lives, and then what?
What if I don’t have a dream? Is that maybe a general problem of our generation? Are we a generation without dreams? Do too many young people nowadays resigne themselves to working on short contracts, to moving every second year, to long distant relationships because it’s barely possible to find a good job for both partners in the same city? Do too many people just accept to settle for the average? I would never agree to say that our life is dull. On the contrary, it is far from dull and I am very grateful for a lot of things. Yet why do I suddenly feel boring because of a goat farm?
I don’t have a big dream. Anyway, how often do you find mutual dreams? In a marriage, there is no use in following just one persons dream. What about the partner? I am pretty sure that, after a few years, the other one would be somehow frustrated because it’s not a mutual dream. But there is a mingle-mangle of general wishes. Like living near the sea. Raising the little one close to nature. Not feeling the need to count every penny. Being close to the family. Living a life with good friends. Having a job that allows you to spend at least half of your energy on your loved ones. And somehow making a difference.
So what do I do? Just wait for a life-changing opportunity and hope that I’ll recognise it as one when I see it?
So many questions just because of a goat farm…
What about you? Feel free to make use of the comment function this time! I would love to know your dream! What’s your goat farm?
Summer holiday is over and it’s time for the weekly review in pictures again! Our week has been relatively quiet and focused on the little one. Baby swimming, singing, visit of the grandmother and a long walk both on Thursday and Saturday. We had friends over at our place for some of the evenings – it turned out to be really convenient to eat dinner together, then put the little one to bed and afterwards enjoy the good company and maybe one or two board games or a movie (Karsten said we might even have more social life right now than the year before the little one was born…). Have a nice Sunday everyone! 🙂
playground happiness with the grandmother
watering the flowers…
sorting the mail…
wearing my bathing suite…
late summer garden
indecisive…
weekend walk
I don’t know why but some of my German genes start kicking in again…Inborn desires regarding tidiness and order are piping up. They are normally a bit suppressed in the Swiss environment due to overstimulation (see here), but somehow the last days felt like tilting at windmills in our own flat.
Ever since the little one started to walk, nothing under the height of a meter has been secure anymore. And like every toddler (and sadly almost no adult) she feels the world needs to be explored, every tiny little detail has to be examined and touched. She also seems to inherit her own sense of order and tidiness which is somehow interfering with mine. She has her own way of sorting things…the socks don’t belong in the box on her changing table (where I put them), but they need to be split between the drawer with her burp cloths and the small white drawer in our bedroom (where I never check – it only happened by coincidence that I discovered most of her socks there). Some special socks belong in our laundry basket no matter whether they are dirty or not.
If you visit us after 8pm, everything will be fine. We have established a well working evening routine: Karsten plays with the little one after dinner while I am quickly cleaning the kitchen and sweeping the floor. And whoever doesn’t put the little one to bed is responsible to put away all the toys in the living room and the entrance area. This way I can enjoy the evening with a good conscience.
However, if you visit us at 9am (which is exactly the time when neighbours normally swing by) you’ll experience the following. The entrance area, which is also our dining area and which leads into our open living room, will be covered with all possible jackets and hats of the little one because first thing in the morning she is emptying her clothes box. Our shoes will randomly lie around in front of the door, the soles will be taken out and distributed among the shoes and under the table. As a welcoming gift you will also find one or two of my bras right in the middle of the entrance area (the little one is somehow obsessed with emptying my drawer in the bedroom and her favorite part are the bras which she lovingly puts around her neck or her arm by now). You will stumble over the shoehorn which Karsten never puts away (he justifies the shoehorn with his size – he is just to tall to reach his feet!). And if you try to hold onto the table, you’ll find it occupied by empty lunch boxes which could theoretically be put right into the appropriate drawer one meter further away in the kitchen, but that wouldn’t add to the picture, would it?
Since it is 9am, the little one and I just had breakfast so there are also dirty dishes on the table. And the floor is covered with crumbs and parts of fruits. I couldn’t clean it so far because I am busy changing diapers – as every morning right after breakfast (you can literally set the clock to it….after all, we are in Switzerland).
If you dare to use the restroom in our flat, you’ll find it covered with toilet paper (unused, thank god!) and books. If you are lucky, you may even find a good book in the rubbish bin as the little one just discovered that the rubbish bin is something where you apparently dispose things that you don’t need right now.
And if you dare to continue further, you will enter the guest room which is by now full of empty boxes, old newspapers and wrapping paper. This is because we received two boxes of dishes from Karsten’s grandmother who moved into a nursing home. In order to store the dishes somewhere I have to clean up the little storage room because we don’t have any space left in our kitchen. And while I am cleaning the storage room, I am feeling the urgent need to buy boxes.
Boxes are great! Especially nice looking boxes. I love putting stuff into boxes. Because the stuff can continue being untidy inside the box, but it’ll create a superficial sense of order which pleases my genes. And every now and then when I have nothing better to do I can take a single box and sort it. Awesome! Three cheers for boxes!
And now I have to excuse myself. Karsten is putting the little one to bed, which means….well. Same procedure as every day, James.
Often in the media with negative connotations, but this time serving science by recording data of Karsten’s field:
eBee!
(Yet another proof that scientists do nothing else but playing around with cool toys every day…:-))
familial entropy 