Food, Glorious Food!

We have just completed one seemingly very long week back to school (work for Marty), after three weeks off for the holidays!  Overall, it was not bad.  We all got up relatively fine to recommence our normal routine of dropping Marty off at work then taking Hayden to school.  I've gotten used to the routine but after so much time off, I was a bit more conscious of a simple drop off at school: park, unload Beckham and Hayden, walk to pre-school building, tell Hayden to hurry, take off coat and shoes, put on inside shoes, take him to classroom, walk back to car and load B back in.  It usually takes about 15-20 minutes to drop Hayden off and about 40 minutes of round trip driving.

Afternoon pick up takes even longer because the parking lots are regulated and there's usually cars lined up to wait to get in and it's overall a bit chaotic with all the parents and kids trying to squeeze by each other, along narrow hallways.  Hayden also likes to walk out with his best friend, Joshua, so they are often running around, waiting for each other, etc.  I usually leave the house around 2:30 and we get home at 4:00.

  Throw in errands, which take longer here, and it makes for a pretty short day.  SO, we are switching Hayden to ride the afternoon bus on Monday.  On Friday, we followed the other bussed kids to the cafeteria, where they wait until busses arrive.  Then we went on a hunt for our bus - Bus S.  I made a fun little game out of searching for the right bus and it was a test of letter and number recognition.  We finally found found it and met the driver, DéDé, who promptly picked Hayden up with a smile and showed us where Hayden was going to sit.  No surprise, he also handed me a schedule which showed Hayden's drop off time as 4:36pm.  When he starts on the morning bus, he will be picked up at 7:52am.  In good, precise Swiss fashion!

I think Hayden will do just fine with the transition and he will enjoy being on the bus.  It helps that we know half of the children on the bus, as many are the children of fellow expat friends.

This week, I got together with various expat friends for coffee.  Here is a snippet of our conversation:

me: Guess what I found today?!  Cheddar cheese!
friend:  Where?  Are you sure?  I've been to that store before!
me: I can't find black beans anywhere.
friend: the Carrefour has them.
me: In Segny, France?
friend: No the one in Ferney (also in France)

I have written about my grocery adventures, but it's funny to trade stories with friends who have also moved recently.  It punctuates how we Americans are still getting accustomed to how things are done here.

There are a few things that I have been missing from our US diet - certain cheeses like Cheddar and Monterey Jack, Vegetarian meat substitutes like Morningstar Farms, and easy access to Asian ingredients.  Mexican food...oh and Cheetos, my guilty snack of choice!

On the flip side, I am excited that our groceries consist of more produce, less processed foods.  While the shelf life is shorter, it means our food has less preservatives and are overall fresher.  Still, I find myself a little weirded out by the eggs, milk and cheese which sits right on a normal shelf rather than a refrigerated case.  We don't go out very often because it's so much more expensive.  For example, we went out, for the first time in a couple months, to a nearby Italian restaurant.  We had a salad to share, a pizza and a pasta and Marty had two beers.  The total was 80 Swiss Francs (almost $88 USD).

With the holidays, we started to run low on groceries and our fridge became pretty bare.  The good news is we had just the right ingredients for a treat of breakfast for dinner!

Little Beckham is on the move!  He is an expert at rolling over, but now seems to prefer to be on his feet and has even started to put his knees down.  This week, in two second flat, he managed to go from his back, to rolling over and swinging himself 180 degrees.  He gave me a big grin afterwards, as if to proudly say, "did you see that Mom?!"

We had a fun little afternoon this week.  A short nap followed by a little Baby Einstein.  I couldn't resist snapping a few photos. Looking back, it gave me a little chuckle, especially the inadvertent "antlers" that I gave little B. :) 

 Other photos that have made me smile over the past couple of weeks: Beckham playing with his toes and then introducing them to his mouth, hanging out with me while I finished setting up the boys' playroom, a little brotherly love and father adoration!