4 Orange Suitcases

My Grandmother's Sofa

Sofa - Das Sofa sitting on the porch in CarrboroWhen moving here, we had to decide on what items we really needed/wanted to bring with us. That included what had sentimental value. Stephan insisted on my dad's bookshelf and the game table he got from his mother

Two Years

Two Years - Zwei Jahre the new neighborhoodToday marks two years for three out of four of us in Zürich. Stephan arrived 6 weeks before us. I still can remember that long, emotional day of flights. We were exhausted, anxious and excited all in the same breath. It was an

Natural Surroundings

Nature - Natur The natural beauty of the new neighborhood is beyond my expectations.  Each day and most nights - we walk to the lake - or to the mountain roads near us. Either direction there is some form of nature waiting to share its colors with us. On good

Neuhausen am Rheinfall Part 2

repeat - wiederholen Last week Stephan, Miriam and I took a quick trip to the Rheinfalls. It was a workday and school day for most  (not my two) so we took advantage of the smaller number of visitors. Miriam and I had been there with our castle buddies [https://www.

Uster-Maur-Riedikon

spontaneous - spontan After what feels like weeks of rain and cold - Saturday was perfect. Stephan and I went on a short walk that turned into a half a day of pure enjoyment. We decided we would take our usual walk to the lake and walk to the badi

Wild Flowers

Wildflowers - Die wilde Blumen This is our first year experiences spring on the countryside in Switzerland.  The flowers are amazing.  They are all over. On the side of the road, near a field, in the preserve and just about anywhere you turn around here - there are wildflowers. There

Sunset

Sunset - der Sonnenuntergang Stephan and I try to take a walk each night to regenerate from the day. In the new area we live, we are just a quick walk to the lake or to the hills overlooking the lake. One particular night, the colors really struck me. Unfortunately,

Spring

Spring - Der Frühling Even though our temperatures have been quite chilly at times - spring is definitely here. The colors on the trees and the ground are swiftly brightening the days - even on rainy ones. I see baby animals in the fields and all the birds in the

Where should I move it?

Where - Wo Stephan looked over at my grandmothers singer sewing machine and said, "Hmmmm....  it looks like we moved it too close to the wall, the tile border is pulling off the wall." I responded, "Bummer - where should we move it?" And with that

Sunset

sunset - der Sonnenuntergang Often Stephan and I will take walks together. It is our time to talk - or to walk in silence and just be...  For this post - I will just write a brief introduction. These are photos from walks in the new neighborhood. The photos above

So this is 50

50 - fünfzig Recently, I marked my 50th birthday.  I started this post early that morning surrounded by moving boxes. (We moved to the new apartment just a couple days prior). This is not the 50th birthday I ever imagined, not 1 year ago, not 10 years ago, not even

Roses

Roses - Die Rosen It has been a while since I posted. A lot has changed and yet, not much has changed. We moved, Passover happened and well, we are still in a pandemic.  I have a few more wordy posts coming but felt a check in would be a

On the Countryside

Mountain - Der Berg Little Mountain in Swiss German - Bergli After living in Switzerland for almost two years, we have learned a lot. Culture, food, lifestyle, politics and more.  One thing we did learn is that living in the city center in Zurich was not as crucial for us

Gift

Poison- Das Gift Present - Das Geschenk So here is the thing about English and German. Sometimes a word in English may mean something different in German and vice versa. Take the word, was. In English we use was as a the past tense of to be. I was going

Shoot the Moon

Moon - Der Mond Winter is getting long. It is the time of year that is a struggle in general. Add a pandemic... well you know. I realize the last time I wrote was about the snowstorm. It was pretty spectacular those first few days. We enjoyed playing in the

Snowstorm

snowstorm - Der Schneesturm yesterday at 10:30amYesterday at 7am we looked out the window and saw just wet streets from a night of continual rain. 24 hours later, the view was completely different. Sometime between 7-8:30am yesterday, the snow started and as I sit here- noon the next

Foggy Day

foggy - nebelig It seems that the city of Zürich gets more fog than snow. The snow is in the mountains that surround.  We get fog and lots of it. The last week of school before winter break, it looked like you were walking through a snow storm when walking

Rats Jumping Ship

rat - die Ratte The blog post that came out this morning was scheduled from last week and I had forgotten about it. With the state of the US - I would have never sent that post today. As an American living abroad - it is an unusual feeling to

Date Night

alone - allein The pandemic has made alone time a bit of a challenge for everyone. There is a fine balance of noticing  when one of us is spending too much time in alone.  Living in a flat - there is not a lot of extra space but we are

Silver Lining

silver- silber 2020 is behind us and now we look for hope in 2021. We all know how difficult 2020 was for  - some more than others. I could list the things that were tough for us - but we are healthy and safe  - so we really  have nothing

Snowy Walk

Snowy - schneebedeckt Today, Stephan, Klara and I met our friends and went for a walk. The five of us decided to walk the Uetliberg to Felsenegg.  I have written about Uetliberg in the past - as it is our local mountain in Zürich.  The photos were on warmer [https:

My Dad

My Dad - Mein Vater/ Papa Yahrzeit - This is the Yiddish term for the anniversary of someone's death. It is based on the German words: Jahr and Zeit or year and time. It has been four years since my dad passed. He was quite the unique character.

Dielsdorf/Regensberg

horse - das Pferd With the pandemic numbers rising, we have not been doing our castle trips with castle buddies. We missed them, so last Saturday, we had Stephan drive us to our friends in Dielsdorf. From there Miriam and I met up with our castle buddies and went for

Steg is Steep

steep - steil We all debated where to go on Sunday for our family hike. As mentioned in the previous post we have been spending a lot of time clocking steps in the city.  However, we decided we wanted to do a family hike outside the city. I won'

Kreis 11

Circle - der Kreis In Zürich, area of neighborhoods or districts are called Kreis. There are 12 Kreisen or districts. We live one street outside of the 11th. This Kreis is made up of 3 main neighborhoods: Oerlikon, Seebach and Affoltern. We have spent most of our time in Oerlikon.