Snow!

I'm a feline, I love warmth, I love to sleep and I absolutely love food. I like to take a walk for a change during the day to break the warmth-sleep-food pattern.

This week I had the surprise of my life. My walking path was covered with snow! Eek, aargh! I hate the cold, but I need the fresh air. I decided to go out a bit anyway but man, my ears were hurting after 2 minutes. I decided to go back in again, so I knocked on the door for my servant CS to open up and let me get back to the warmth my home. After a while, I felt the urge to go out again and I decided to take the camera with me. I never worked this thing, so it took some time (and some failed pictures) to find out how it works.











As I was so fucussed, ooops, focussed on handling the camera, I forgot about the cold and took those pictures. Isn’t it B-E-E-Utiful??










That was Wednesday and today, we still have this white carpet outside. I wonder what it will be like in Canada. CS and OX are talking about the Canadian winters freakwentli (Hmm, I should do a spell check on this one). Oh it’s frequently. Sorry, my mistake. I never went to school so please forgive me my spelling mistakes. Neither do I know how to earase my mistakes. Anyway, I hope Canada is not as cold as CS and OX tell me every now and then. If it is, then I should consider baying some booties and ear muffs (I have very sentive ears). I'll have to have a word (a good purr, inmy language) about this with CS and OX. Hehehe, maybe a good opportunity to be infyted (sp??) for some shopping.

By the way, now I have the chance to use the PC again, I changed my picture. I was on Merlin Princess’ site, a cool cat blog. Anyway, that's where I found this cool link. I decided to change my looks a bit and become a bit more adventurous. From now on, you can call me Capt'n Dale.

Do I look cool, or what?

PS: Merlin and Princess each now have their very own site here and here.

The Value of Gold

Last Friday, I thought I’d make something simple for dinner. You know, just to use up a few things from the fridge before our Munich weekend, so I decided to make omelettes. What could go wrong? Well, let me tell you.

The omelettes were delicious, but after the meal, I felt something (probably a piece of ham) between my upper left molars. Orange-X has a habit of always using toothpicks after a meal, so I asked him to bring one for me as well. I started picking and all of o sudden, I felt a “plop” in my mouth. No, it wasn’t a champagne cork; I open them with my hands, not with my teeth… Although, once I… Oh forget it. So I checked with my tongue and felt that something was rough on the edge. All of a sudden, I had this huge piece of gold filling just sitting on my tongue. Ooops!

I tried to get a hold of my dentist on Saturday morning, but all he had was an emergency number of a clinic. Luckily enough, the filling fell from a tooth where I had had a root canal, so no more nerves there. I was pain free. Great! I just had to be careful, because there’s not that much tooth left around the hole, so I chew on the right side for now. So, I just left a message on his answering machine t say that I’d call in on Monday morning.

On Monday morning, I called up my dentist and got his secretary, who was nice enough to give me an appointment for 1 pm that same day. At 12:30, I was on my way to the garage. I sat in my car, turned the key and… silence…. nothing…. Absolutely NOTHING, but a very dead battery. Arghhhghghgh!! Anyhow, I ran back into the house to call my dentist and tell him that I wouldn’t make it in time. *Next appointment available: yesterday at 5.30 pm.

I walked into the dentist’s office and was immediately guided to the off-white leather chaise longue while the nice assistant fitted me with one of those ugly green bibs. Dr. Kolb walked in and greeted me. I remembered that I had brought the filling with me so I took it out of my purse and handed it to him. He checked the gold filling and then the hole in my tooth. “Perfect”, he said, “I can re-use this”. No further damage to the tooth or the filling. So he **sandblasted the remains of “cement” on the gold filling and did the same to the cavity in my molar. During the treatment, he told me that had the filling not been gold, he would have had to reconstruct the tooth and that would have cost me gazillions again. In less than 25 minutes, my tooth was fixed, good as new and I was on my way back home.

However, while he was putting my filling back in place, he apologised more than once for his mistake. He had put too little “cement” on the filling the first time. Again, when I left, we shook hands and he said: „Again, I’m very sorry for this Mrs CS, it was really my mistake.”

Ahh. The value of gold… and of a good dentist. I wonder if I’ll ever see the bill.


* My car is running again.
**Note: they use salt and water and not sand for this

Bavarian weekend

We left around 9am on Saturday morning and we finally arrived in Türkheim/Unterallgäu, which is about 80km from Munich, around 12:30. We were welcomed by Andreas and Suze with a wonderful brunch. Once our stomachs were soon filled with coffee, juice, prosecco, fresh bread, smoked salmon, cold cuts and different cheeses and had chatted a whole lot, we realised that it was already 2.30pm.

Andreas suggested that we go for a walk along the Ammersee and then visit the Abbey of Andechs to which we immediately agreed. It was a beautiful sunny, but quite chilly day because of the wind – probably leftovers from the Kyrill storm. So, Munich would just have to wait until the next trip.

The Ammersee is one of the largest lakes in Germany and is a popular location for water sports all year ‘round. I did mention that it was windy, didn’t I?

I was amazed to see so many kite surfers. Brrrrr. To cold for me at this time of year, even with the wetsuits! After watching these crazy water fanatics for a while, we walked along the promenade following the lake talking, joking and enjoying each other’s company.


Once we got back to the car, we drove to Andechs and left the car at the bottom of the heilige Berg (the Holy Mountain). We walked up the very steep hill to the abbey church that had been completely remodelled in the Baroque and Rococo style in the 18th century filled with very impressive statues, paintings and stucco works.











The Benedictine monastery is also renowned for a very important part of Bavarian culture: Beer brewing. And what a coincidence: we were thirsty.









We found a table at the abbey’s restaurant, The Andechs Bräustüberl, and had ourselves a few delicious beers, fresh pretzels, Landjäger and some Obazda, a creamy Bavarian cheese specialty (similar to the Austrian/Slovakian Liptauer).

After my first beer, I felt “nature calling”, so I went downstairs and made a discovery. At first, I thought it was somekind of vending machine, but no. Of course, I didn’t take the camera with me to the ladies’, but Orange did once I had told him about it and it was his turn to get some relief.

This, my friends, is an alcohol testing machine. Have you ever seen one of these? I sure haven't.


You drop in a 50 Euro cent coin into the machine, pick a straw at the bottom, insert the straw into a hole, blow as hard as you can in the straw and it will tell you your level of alcohol. Unfortunately, the picture didn’t turn out too well, so I can’t decipher the text at the bottom.

Later, we decided to go to a local Italian restaurant in Türkheim for a bit of pasta and some Parma ham. It was delicious and we had a lot of fun. Our waiter agreed to take our picture. Don't we look like a happy bunch?

We left the restaurant and Suze, our designated driver for the evening, safely drove us to their house where she could finally join the party.

First things first: Put on some music, increase the volume and until the whole house rocks! We did have a few quieter moments that evening.

As you can see from the pictures below, we had a delightful time with Andreas and Suze. The party continued until the wee hours.















We left early on Sunday afternoon, but we promised to meet again. Maybe in Basel?

We're off to Munich!

Early tomorrow morning, we're driving up to Munich to visit Andreas (Orange-X's former boss) and Suze, his wife in Munich for the weekend. I haven't been to Munich since,... well, I think about 8-9 years, so I'm really looking forward to it.

See you all when we get back.

Encounter of the 5th (Bloggers) Kind

Bloggers of a feather blog together (or something like that).

Yesterday was the day where about 25 Swiss-Bloggers met in Basel. TBF, Sara from Life Is Nicht So Mal, Jul from This Non-American Life and moi (sorry if I'm leaving anyone out, but I dealt only with TBF).

We all met at a local restaurant, Zum Braunen Mutz, for lunch. We were the first to arrive (I think the Swiss punctuality got to me after so many years), closely followed by Ashley and Sebastian. Shortly after that, I lost count (and names). It all went so fast. It was so crowded that, at some point, the service could hardly get through to serve the only other two tables that were not reserved for us (Tough! WE reserved. Blah!). In order to recognize each other, we filled in name tags. After about 30 minutes of hello's, we finally all sat down and shortly after, ordered lunch. We chatted here and there, and had a lot of fun.

After lunch, TBF "offered" to guide us through Basel. Unfortunately, he was hoping that I could help him talk about the architecture and history of the buildings. I must admit that I knew a few things in the first 2-3 years (20 years ago!) about Basel's historical buildings, but I haven't played guide in many, many years. Let's just say I had "a senior moment" whenever he asked me for details (honestly, I didn't want to screw-up and give false information). Anyway, we took a nice walk to the town hall, then through the old town, up to the Spalentor (city gate of Basel), then through Petersplatz (well known for the Saturday flea markets and Herbstmesse [Autumn fair]), across the Mittlere Rheinbrücke [middle Rhine bridge], along the Kleinbasel promenade and from there, we took one of the small ferry boats across the Rhine and ended up at the Basler Münster (Basel Cathedral), where we started saying our goodbyes and by the time we were at the train station, there were only 7 of us left. We didn't take many pictures (too busy talkin', I guess), but you'll find some here, here , here and here. Did I miss anybody again? If so, please let me know.

It was really fun to meet so many bloggers on the spot, but unfortunately, some had to leave early and we weren't able to chat with all of them. Apparently, there will be another Swiss-Bloggers' meeting sometime in March in the Zurich area. Feel free to sign up... NOW!

Isn’t it what it’s all about?

I though I’d do a quick run through the reunions during our trip to Canada, otherwise, I’ll never get done! I’m trying to keep it short. Really!

The day after Colette’s staff party, my Mom, Orange-X and I went to my cousin’s, Rachel, for a pre-Christmas get together. By the time we got there, the party had already started. It was really great to see her and many other members of the family again. Especially as she’d be leaving for a backpacking trip with a few girlfriends a few days later to Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Malaysia (I think), then back to Thailand for a few days of rest on the beach. Lucky her!

Besides chatting with everybody about this and that, enjoying the company, food and drinks, we played a few games with the children. Don't you just love family reunions??


I was even able to get a shot of my Mom (in pink) closely following the activities.


At about 10:30 pm the kids got really impatient and wanted to start unwrapping their presents. Instead of the regular Christmas tree, Rachel had a giant stocking sewn and filled it with the presents. Here she is with boyfriend Michael and his three children.
Shortly after midnight, we said our goodbyes, but we know that we’ll be seeing them all again soon.

The day after was Christmas Eve and we spent with my Dad and Colette (a.k.a. Coco). We had a quiet dinner. Coco prepared everything except for the beef (Daddy’s job). HA! And she says she can’t cook! Then at midnight, we started unwrapping gifts.

I won’t go through all the presents, but both of us are not the proud new owners of iPods (80GB!) and I have two beautiful new pairs of earrings. Next year, I’ll have to remember to ask Santa to get a few extra holes punched into my ears to fit them all in!

On Christmas day, we went to my Mom’s for dinner. The plan was to have my mother’s (and our) very dear friend, Yves Michel, join us. Unfortunately, he caught a bad case of gastroenteritis (that soon became an epidemic in our region) a day earlier and couldn’t make it. We did meet up with him at a later date, though. For the time being, however, we had our own little party just the four of us (let’s not forget Charlotte, my Mom’s crazy cat). It was going to be a Swiss evening. We started with some Bündnerfleisch (a paper-thinly cut air-dried beef speciality from the Grisons) while we unwrapped the gifts. As you can see, in the meantime, Chalotte made sure we were kept busy.



Since my Mom had been complaining about her knives not cutting well enough, we decided to get her two good sized knives for Christmas. Of course, it is said that you must pay a symbolic fee when you receive instruments with blades, otherwise, it’s bad luck/lost of friendship. So I got a tooney (2 dollar piece) from her. She also got some “Kirschstängeli” (chocolates filled with Kirsch) and a nice, warm sweater. We received a voucher for a dinner at a restaurant that opened about 2 years ago: The Elephant. We haven’t had the time to go during our stay, but we will, as soon as we are halfway settled in Canada.

We then made our way over to the dining table and I made an awesome (almost) authentic cheese fondue (I had to replace one of the cheeses!). Not to mention a few drops of the delicious Kirsch we had “imported” passed the watchful eye of the Canadian customs' officer. We spent a fine evening there and happily feel into bed.

Of all the Christmas gifts I received, however, the most beautiful and greatest one was to spend the Holidays with my family and friends. Isn’t it what it’s all about, anyway?

More to come soon. Have a great week!

Christmas Trees and Staff Party

Okay, so yesterday was not much better jetlag-wise. Both of us were awake at 4am, so we decided to get up and have a coffee. Today, my sleep routine seems to be getting back to normal. I slept until 9am. Thank goodness!

Back to Canada.

On the Monday after our arrival, we went to my Mom’s and helped her put up her Christmas tree. I was happy to see that my Mom still had most of the ornaments that I knew as a child and they were still in the original boxes. I wish I had taken my camera on that day. Some are over 40 years old, but have still kept their original beauty! It brought back many beautiful memories.
After having decorated the tree to our satisfaction, we took Mom out for dinner at Stephanie’s, a local restaurant and the best bar and grill in the area. We were taken to a table right next to a cosy wood fireplace. Of course, Orange had to have Canadian beef! He was drooling already when he saw it on the menu. I’m still amazed at the huge portions served in Canada (and the US, for that matter). I love food, but can only have small portions at a time. The meal was great, but as usual, much too much for me (and I hate taking a doggy-bag).

On the 20th Dec., Orange had a meeting planned in Toronto, so my Dad and I drove him to the airport and I got to spend the day in Ottawa with my Dad for some Christmas shopping. We picked O-X up again the same evening and drove home for dinner, or supper, as we eastern (?) Canadians would say.

The next day, I had a job to do. Colette had invited her staff from the golf club (a.k.a. “the girls”) for dinner and I had offered to cook the main course. She loves baking and making deserts, but is not too fond of cooking. I’m not so good at baking, but I love to cook, so one could call it a win-win situation. Soon after I had made the proposal, O-X and my Dad offered to take over the position of maître d's. We thought it was a nice idea, since the girls are usually the ones waiting on people.

Colette started baking cookies and preparing her deserts and appetizers. I took over in the afternoon and prepared the main course consisting of chicken breasts en croûte with a ground hazelnut stuffing served with green beans and cherry tomatoes.

The girls started arriving around 5:30pm and every time the doorbell rang, Orange-X made his way to the door to greet the guests, introduced himself (many didn’t know him at all) and took their coats. In the meantime, my Dad started serving the hors d’oeuvres and Orange was taking orders for drinks while I was making the last preps for the main course.

After a while, Dad escorted the ladies to the dining room table that Colette had so meticulously arranged and the feast began. The soup was served, then the main course and finally the deserts. My dad and Colette don’t have a huge house, so even with all the hustle and bustle of serving, I’m happy to report that there were no major collisions or broken glasses.

Here are a few picts of the evening:

(clockwise from left to right) Colette, Linda, Lise, Madame Coco (also a Colette), Sylvie and Darquise





















It was a fun evening and we really enjoyed playing "waiters" for them. They're a great bunch.

We'll be back with more soon!

We’re Ba-a-a-ack!!

We made it back to Switzerland safe and sound, and arrived at Zurich airport at 6 am, 25 minutes ahead of schedule. I guess we must have has one heck of a tailwind, because of all my trips, I think this one was the fastest ever. The only thing I hate when coming back is the jet lag. I find it worse when travelling west to east. I took a one hour snooze yesterday, we went to bed around 11 pm, but Orange’s snoring and Dale’s loud purring and scratching on the head of the bed (you know, feeling totally at home and cosy type) kept me wide awake. At 3 am I closed the bedroom door, lit the staircase, switched my laptop on and spent the night on the internet. At 7am, I decided to give it another try and I slept until 3 pm this afternoon. I just hope I can sleep tonight!

We had a great time in Canada and had the chance to meet many of my relatives and friends. You can read about our arrival here and about Orange-X’s little mishap here. Just to let you know, the realtor was very easy about it. Actually, she didn’t see it in her mails, but we did tell her about it and she laughed and wished she had received it. She’s really cool. But more about our house search a bit later.

Rewind to our arrival. We had a quiet dinner at my Dad’s on the day of our arrival. The next morning, we visited my Mom, spent the afternoon with her and went back for dinner at my dad’s. While we were gone, Colette, my Dad’s wife, put up her Christmas display and we came home to see this:

Isn’t it beautiful? I love the idea instead of the typical Christmas tree. What a great start to our holidays!

More to come tomorrow. Stay tuned!

Happy New Year!

I know, I know... Today's already the 2nd of January. We know that you all know that we've been very busy visiting and recieving family and friends here in Canada. We hope that you all had a wonderful time during the Holiday Season with your families and friends and we'll be posting a entries about our time here once we return to Switzerland.

Until then:

OrangeX and I send all our blogger friends out there our best wishes of good health, love, happiness and success for 2007!

Creating Snowflakes

I found this on Babs' site and I really thought it was cute. You can cut out your own personal snowflake and attach a message.



Go ahead, try it.

Was it a blooper or a boo-boo?

No matter what you wanna call it, it turned CS’ ears red. A few evenings ago we were going through funny videos on the inernet (www.mojoflix.com) with CS’ dad, Kurt. Before we took off for Canada I had been looking through the immense number of videos and found one of a cat playing with his male organ. I laughed tears when I saw the video and that particular evening I wanted to show it to Kurt. After we watched it I thought it would be funny to download it. As we were using CS’ notebook we decided to download it via CS’ Gmail address. No sweat, easy to do, so I entered CS’ Gmail address and clicked the “send” button. All went well until the next window popped up with following information: “The mail has been sent succesfully to 14 addresses in your address book”. Hell no, this couldn’t be true??? We checked out CS’ Inbox on her Gmail account and found no list of recipients, so at that stage we still were under the impression no damage was done. We felt kind of relieved as CS used her Gmail mainly to sent rather large files for print to the companies suppliers. We wouldn’t know how they would react getting an e-mail with the remark to "check out this video…."

To make sure only CS received the video I decided to check out my mail accounts and found I received the video. Ooops! CS’ ears turned a bit darker red. She moved a bit restless on her chair but was darn determined when she told me: "Hey, look you. You sent the e-mail off, so you write an apology to the recipients”. OK, no sweat. I wrote the apology and when going through the recipients we found that also a real estate agent in the area had received this video. Ooops! We never met this lady before and short before we left for Canada, CS sent her an e-mail with the request to contact us and show a few houses in the area once we arrived in Canada. Wee, that’s a good start of new relationship! Anyway, I sent off the mail and had the first reply from Babs, who laughed her head off and had already posted the video. Thanks Babs! You’re a great sport. The next one to reply was Ginnie. Also here no harm done. I guess most people took it well and had a good laugh. One of the persons who didn’t reply yet and didn’t contact us yet is this real estate agent. I wonder why… I only noticed that the prices of houses in the area just went up by 20%...

As they say “you get one chance to make a first impression”, I guess I blew mine and will probably have to rely on the second one.

For all of you who haven’t received the e-mail and therefore missed out on the video, check it out here. Advise: parental guidance required, not suitable for viewers under 16! And, don't forget to turn up the volume as this makes the video complete.

Have a great day!

We've made it safely

Yes! We're in Canada. Our flight was delayed an hour because of connecting flights that were delayed because of fog, so we had to wait for passengers and luggage. Oh well.

We arrived in Montreal at 4pm and thought we'd be honest and declare that we had 400 cigarettes (2 cartons) each instead of the accepted 200. Last time, we also did this and went through without a problem (hey, it's not like we were selling them here!). Anyway, the ladie at the second control sent us through customs. It was a great, big line! Shesh! We were watching as the people in front of us had to open all of their luggage, were questioned and almost treaten like criminals, and that's where we began to sweat! We had declared the ciggies, but not all the schnapps that we had brought. Two for my Dad (one was from Ernst, see previous post), one for my Mom and one for my best friend, Christiane. So we were over by about 1 liter! O-oh!!

After 50 minutes of waiting in line and sweating our butts off (it was also pretty hot in there), we came to this very nice customs officer lady. She just looked at us, at my Canadian passport and then at the mountain of luggage we had on the trolley. She checked our declaration and said:"One carton of cigarettes too many per person?". "Yes", we said. We bought them at duty free, but we're here for 3 weeks. We don't mind paying the extra fee. That's why we declared them." She took another look at our bulk of luggage, then at the line getting longer and just said: "I'd usually have to make you pay for the extra, but the line is just getting longer and I'd have to go through all your luggage. So you can go and enjoy your stay." Ha! Welcome to Canada! I'm not sure if it was the long queue that was waiting, our heap of luggage or OX's charm (I still think it's the latter), but we came through without a scratch.

My Dad was waiting outside and was worried that something had happened to us, so he was really relieved when he saw us finally come out. We were just relieved to have had so much luck. We drove home, unpacked the bare necessities and had a bite to eat.

The next post will be about OrangeX's blooper! Stay tuned!

Countdown has started

Two more nights to sleep before we leave for Canada... and still so much to do! This will be my last post in the few days to come.

I seem to have been running around all day yesterday and today! I've been washing, cleaning, e-mailing and blogging in between and doing basic groceries for our dear Dutch friends, Jaap and Patricia, who will be house-sitting our home and enjoying a bit of Switzerland for a few days around Christmas time.

I also went for a quick visit at an old friend of the family, Ernst, (my dad's best friend) to pick up some self-made kirsch. The kirsch is not actually self-made, but he "owns/rents (?)" a few fruit trees such as cherry, plum and I think also pear at a nearby farm (they do that here in Switzerland) and when the fruit on his trees are ripe, he picks them and brings them to be distilled. I had a sip of it today, and although I'm not a big fan of it, this one was soooo smooth and tasty. I'll have to write a post about Ernst one day, not because of the kirsch, but because he has been like a second father to me throughout my years in Switzerland AND because he's incredibly crazy. He's a 74 year old kid. I kid you not! No wonder his grandchildren love him so much!

What's up this evening? We'll be bringing Dale, our cat, to a friend's house for holidays - What!?!He's entitled to vacations too, you know? - then order a pizza and do some packing. Tomorrow, I will clean a few windows (where Dale scratches when he begs to come in again), vacuum the couches (where Dale loves to nap), clean the kitchen floor (where Dale eats and I love to cook), finish packing, go for a massage at Paolo's followed by a hair trim at Markus', get a few last things in town to bring to Canada, quick meet up with my almost 18 year old godson and bring the luggage to the main train station in Basel to check them in.

After that, I'm not sure I'll even have the energy to eat!

Friday morning: Panic! Have we got everything? Will Jaap and Patricia find everything they need? Where's my freaking adaptor plug? What time is our train leaving again? I wanna see my Family!!!! Get me outta here! Are we there already??

So. I'll post again from Canada (a little). AND I will be politically correct... If I don't post before X'mas, I wish each and every one of you a Happy Holiday Season. Love ya all!

Over.and.OUT! Ciao!

"What have I done" Meme

I saw this a while back on Expatter's blog, I think also on Xmichra's and today again on Shelli's, so I thought I'd try it out. Maybe I should do these memes more often. They're fun and you don't have to think up much on your own, which means good for "low" days.

You'll find the things I have done up to now in bold characters:

01. Bought everyone in the bar a drink
02. Swam with wild dolphins - Not yet, but it is definitely on my "to do" list [I'm so jealous, Shelli. ;-)]
03. Climbed a mountain
04. Taken a Ferrari for a test drive. - No, but I did drive a formula car
05. Been inside the Great Pyramid
06. Held a tarantula
07. Taken a candlelit bath with someone
08. Said “I love you” and meant it. - I still do!
09. Hugged a tree
10. Bungee jumped
11. Visited Paris
12. Watched a lightning storm at sea
13. Stayed up all night long and saw the sun rise
14. Seen the Northern Lights
15. Gone to a huge sports game
16. Walked the stairs to the top of the leaning Tower of Pisa
17. Grown and eaten your own vegetables
18. Touched an iceberg
19. Slept under the stars
20. Changed a baby’s diaper. - I may have no kids, but I did babysit
21. Taken a trip in a hot air balloon
22. Watched a meteor shower
23. Gotten drunk on champagne
24. Given more than you can afford to charity
25. Looked up at the night sky through a telescope
26. Had an uncontrollable giggling fit at the worst possible moment. - Who hasn't?
27. Had a food fight
28. Bet on a winning horse
29. Asked out a stranger
30. Had a snowball fight
31. Screamed as loudly as you possibly can
32. Held a lamb
33. Seen a total eclipse
34. Ridden a roller coaster
35. Hit a home run
36. Danced like a fool and not cared who was looking
37. Adopted an accent for an entire day. - My accents changes contantly depending if I’m speaking to a French-Canadian or a Frenchman/woman or from Swiss-German to High-German. I can't help it.
38. Actually felt happy about your life, even for just a moment
39. Had two hard drives for your computer
40. Visited all 50 states
41. Taken care of someone who was drunk
42. Had/Have amazing friends
43. Danced with a stranger in a foreign country
44. Watched whales
45. Stolen a sign
46. Backpacked in Europe
47. Taken a road-trip
48. Gone rock climbing
49. Midnight walk on the beach
50. Gone sky diving
51. Visited Ireland
52. Been heartbroken longer than you were actually in love - I'm not sure about this one, but probably
53. In a restaurant, sat at a stranger’s table and had a meal with them
54. Visited Japan
55. Milked a cow - … and a goat... and I wasn’t very good at either
56. Alphabetized your cds
57. Pretended to be a superhero
58. Sung karaoke
59. Lounged around in bed all day
60. Played touch football
61. Gone scuba diving
62. Kissed in the rain
63. Played in the mud
64. Played in the rain
65. Gone to a drive-in theater
66. Visited the Great Wall of China
67. Started a business
68. Fallen in love and not had your heart broken
69. Toured ancient sites
70. Taken a martial arts class
71. Played D&D for more than 6 hours straight
72. Gotten married
73. Been in a movie
74. Crashed a party
75. Gotten divorced
76. Gone without food for 5 days - It’s called fasting and the longest was 10 days on water and broths.
77. Made cookies from scratch
78. Won first prize in a costume contest
79. Ridden a gondola in Venice
80. Gotten a tattoo
81. Rafted the snake river
82. Been on television news programs as an “expert”
83. Gotten flowers for no reason
84. Performed on stage
85. Been to Las Vegas
86. Recorded music
87. Eaten shark
88. Kissed on the first date
89. Gone to Thailand
90. Bought a house - Too expensive in Switzerland. But we will, soon :)
91. Been in a combat zone
92. Buried one/both of your parents
93. Been on a cruise ship
94. Spoken more than one language fluently - Daily
95. Performed in a Rocky Horror Picture Show
96. Raised children
97. Followed your favourite band/singer on tour
98. Passed out cold
99. Taken an exotic bicycle tour in a foreign country
100. Picked up and moved to another city to just start over
101. Walked the Golden Gate Bridge
102. Sang loudly in the car, and didn’t stop when you knew someone was looking
103. Had plastic surgery
104. Survived an accident that you shouldn’t have survived
105. Wrote articles for a large publication
106. Lost over 100 pounds.
107. Held someone while they were having a flashback
108. Piloted an airplane - The “real” pilot was sitting right next to me.
109. Touched a stingray
110. Broken someone’s heart - More than once
111. Helped an animal give birth
112. Won money on a TV game show
113. Broken a bone
114. Gone on an African photo safari
115. Had a facial part pierced other than your ears
116. Fired a rifle, shotgun, or pistol
117. Eaten mushrooms that were gathered in the wild - Yes, but not gathered by me
118. Ridden a horse
119. Had major surgery
120. Had a snake as a pet
121. Hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon
122. Slept for more than 30 hours over the course of 48 hours
123. Visited more foreign countries than U.S. states
124. Visited all 7 continents
125. Taken a canoe trip that lasted more than 2 days
126. Eaten kangaroo meat
127. Eaten sushi
128. Had your picture in the newspaper - As a kid, when I was school carnival queen and when I was 30-something, I was part of the audience on a TV show.
129. Changed someone’s mind about something you care deeply about
130. Gone back to school
131. Para-sailed - I did paragliding (tandem), so I’ll consider it as a yes
132. Touched a cockroach
133. Eaten fried green tomatoes
134. Read “The Iliad”
135. Selected one “important” author who you missed in school, and read
136. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
137. Skipped all your school reunions - We only had one up to now, and I missed it (I was already in Switzerland)
138. Communicated with someone without sharing a common spoken language
139. Been elected to public office
140. Written your own computer language
141. Thought to yourself that you’re living your dream
142. Had to put someone you love into hospice care
143. Built your own PC from parts
144. Sold your own artwork to someone who didn’t know you
145. Had a booth at a street fair
146. Dyed your hair - Many, many times. Actually, I’ve been through most colours available on the market!
147. Been a DJ
148. Shaved your head
149. Caused a car accident
150. Saved someone’s life

So there. Now you know.

I'm not the tagging type, but feel free to do this blog.

Who did the Marketing here??

You know? Sometimes I really wonder. I must say that these masques are really good, but What the ....?!!! Who the heck decided on this picture?!


Am I going to end up with two apricot halves on my face? Do I have to buy them extra? Fresh, or canned?? Will I look like this for ever? What will happen to me? Will ivy leaves (they look like it) grow on my face after use? Questons, questions...

I don't know about you, but I'm not sure I wanna use this!

What two days of retirement can do to you

My second day as an O.T.R.P. is almost over and here’s what I have been up to:

Dec. 6th

- 9.30 am: Dale (our cat) is hungry and is very persistent in waking me up. Finally get up at 9:40 am
- Drink coffee, feed Dale (cat), chat online with our friend Jaap from Holland, more coffee, do some wash and read blogs until about 1 pm
- Took a hot bath (including exfoliating face scrub) until all wrinkled (wrinkles from overtime in tub, not from face scrub. Note: wrinkles no longer visible)
- Drive to the store and do a few groceries
- Watch the news and then a cooking show (I love cooking!)
- OrangeX comes home around 7.45 pm from work and we have a drink together
- Have dinner and watch a few criminal series, then off to bed
Note that in between, I keep letting Dale in and out of the house. (Not very exciting, eh?)

Dec 7th. (a bit more exciting)

- Wake up, smell coffee, get up at 7.45 am (am I nuts, or what?!?) and kiss OX before he leaves for office
- Drink coffee, throw in the last wash, make grocery list for coming days and go through my blogroll until about 9.45 (Dale has been fed)
- Take bath, fix face (some call it make-up) and hair, then drive off to yearly dentist appointment (check up only and DH) for 11:30 (very human, thank you).
- Arrive at said dentist 10 minutes early and sit in chair chatting with assistant. 11.30 sharp, dentist comes in and starts checking. As usual, nothing, and dentists congratulates me on clean and healthy teeth. What can I say? He has all these instruments in my mouth! I say: “Hank you”. Go through DH and am outta there at 11.55 am (with my last x-rays – Hey, I’m going back to Canada. I’ll need them there.)
- Off to the grocery store, come home, unpack, spay oven to clean and start making a Tiramisù (I’m the Queen of Tiramisù!)
- 3pm: I have so much mascarpone cream that I decide to get extra biscuits. Walk to the store (about 20 minutes one way) and do a last small Tiramisù and clean up kitchen.
- 4pm: check my mails, answer my good friend Nicole and decide to wash my winter jacket
- 5 pm: I start typing this

There! See?? I’m actually busy. Not exciting busy, but busy.

So, if you'll excuse me, I have to go now and marinate the lamb and prepare the potato-leek gratin.

O.T.R.P. (Officially Temporarily Retired Person)

YES! I’ve made it to my temporary retirement!

The last 1.5 days weren’t easy, though. Well, I have worked there for over 8 years, so it’s no as easy as one might think to just “let go”. Yesterday, the company organised a get together for me and we all met in the showroom 3:30pm (in order to get the guys from the workshop over as well). I was all nervous and fidgety from 3pm on. As soon as my supervisor, M., started her speech, I got a lump in my throat the size of a grapefruit (at least, it felt like it). Luckily, I had asked her to keep it short and sweet and she did. I’m very thankful for that. M. then handed me a dozen of beautiful roses, two framed group photos of events that I had organised and a voucher for a dinner for two at one of my favourite restaurants, The Boomerang.

When my time came to say a few words, I had forgotten all I had wanted to say. To be honest, I think I said something like going back to the land of the polar bears, seals and moose and everybody laughed. I know I said a few more sentences about 8 years, going through changes, and blah, blah, blah, but I’m not sure in which order.

Then we opened a few bottles of crémant, beers and soft drinks and I got to chat with just about everyone there. Around 5pm, there were only a few of us left, so we opened another bottle of the bubbly stuff, and another, and then another. Martin, a colleague and good friend, entertained us with endless jokes (how can he remember them all?) and were laughing tears. By 7:30 pm, most of us (me for sure) had their share of alcohol, so I hitched a ride home with Doug who had joined the celebration later and was still pretty sober. Since Orange was out for dinner with customers, I let Dale out for a short run, just sat down and did nada. I decided I was too tired and still too buzzed to watch TV, so I went to bed. Good decision!

This morning, Doug picked me up and we drove to the office (my car was there). I spent the morning filing a few last things I had on my desk, meeting with M. to go through my goals (I’m happy to report that I have achieved 95% of my bonus! YAY!!), and saying goodbye to everyone personally. The latter was tougher than the day before. I have grown very fond of many colleagues and I won’t forget or loose track of them. I then went for lunch with M., our customer service team and our two receptionists. Saying goodbye to the people with whom I worked so closely for years was definitely the most difficult. I got in my car and drove right past the company with mixed feelings of sadness, relief, happiness and excitement. I have ended a chapter and I’m starting a new one.

When I got home, I saw that I had a missed call. It was TBF, so I gave him a ring back (my first call as a temporarily retired person!) After chatting for a few minutes, the wise TBF said: “Don't worry. In a couple of weeks, you’ll notice that people will start asking you: ‘What do you do all day?’ And you’ll answer: ‘I don’t know, but I’m always busy.’ ”

I guess I have to start practising, now. I’m a busy woman, you know! Any suggestions?

Two extremes

Our friend Pinki in Austria sent me a link to this clip. I must admit that I'm not sure if I would have fainted or not during one of these escapades, but I thought Ross and the Crocodile Hunter (RIP) had a really great time filming this... And "Chapeau" to Ross!

I can't seem to embed the video in here (Copyright?), but here's the link. http://www.youtube.com/v/pa_7P5AbUww

Now just sit back and enjoy the next 5 minutes and make sure you have your sound turned on.

PS: On Tuesday at 12:00 noon, I will be celebrating my - as TBF calls it - retirement!

Pandas do it, too

I just thought that this short clip went well with my last post. So cute, I couldn't resist.

I believe I can sneeze

I have something really strange, but positive to tell you. I can sneeze again! See? I told you it was strange.

Not that I never sneezed before, but it was more like stopping it in the middle of the “explosion”. You know, like “Aattttttt..nnn….” I choked it and then back in the lungs it went. This can be quite painful, and there are some cases where people broke a rib. Amazing, isn’t it? That a lot of pressure you’re holding back, there! Anyway, about a month ago, I noticed that I sneezed out (don’t worry, I turn away from people and cover my mouth). It went kind of like this:

Me: “Hatschiii!... Excuse me.”

OrangeX: "Bless, you sweetheart."

Me: "Thanks." – Pause – "Hey! I sneezed! "

OrangeX: (Confused look on his face) "Yes, I know."

Me: "Nooooo! I mean I really sneezed!"

OrangeX: (even more confused look on his face) "Huh??"

Then I started thinking back and… Bingo! It occurred to me that a few weeks after I gave my resignation, I started sneezing normally again.

I’m not looking forward to the next case of flu, or anything like that, but it does feel nice. I sure hope that in time, my resignation will cure more of the current psychosomatic illnesses/states that have been living with the past couple of years.

I know it’s a small step, but for imagine how I’ll feel after a couple of weeks of real convalescence! WOW!

What's up with Blogger??

I have been having problems posting and comments on Blogger sites lately. It might also be the Internet connection at certain times of day. I don't know, but it's really becoming a pain in the butt, to say the least!

To put up a post or comment sometimes takes 2-3 times or more before it's up there and the most annoying was that, if I write a text directly in blogger, I often loose the whole post. I have started to write all my entries in Word and then tried to post them, but 2 out of 3 don't work. Then I tried, and tried again until it worked, or until I was so fed up that I just left it be.

I've also updated my Explorer a couple of weeks ago. Could it have to do with that? I know that some of you use Firefox and swear by it, but I just can't get used to it, and I've had my problems there, too. Of course, I've checked for viruses and defragmented my drive. The latter should have nothing to do with Blogger, but it certainly didn't do any harm.

Does anyone have an idea what could be the source?? All comments are welcome.

Have a great week!

PS: Countdown is running... 11 1/2 workdays to freedom!!!

We're alive and well

Just a few words to let you know that we're doing fine. Lately, I just didn't have the "kick" to write although we do have quite a bit to say.

OrangeX and I have also been busy preparing for Canada. We've been spending much of our free time looking at houses in different regions of Ontario. Little by little, things are looking up. The job opportunities look petty good although they might take us to the greater Toronto area instead of the Ottawa valley. But that's also fine with me. I can't say much more for now, but we will let you know as soon as we can.

Orange will be in Holland for an company training all week and is driving back on Friday with his sister and brother-in-law for the weekend. YAY! The week after that, he'll be finishing the last part of his management course near Frankfurt, so I won't be seeing much of him in the next 2 weeks. Pack, unpack, wash, pack, unpack, wash. UGH! The weekend he comes back, we're invited to a 50th birthday party to which we both are looking forward to. It's never crazy, but we always meet really interesting people there.

And from then on, I'm down to my last 7 days at work. I'm trying hard to leave the office between 5 and 5.30 pm, but it doesn't always seem to work. I find myself concentrated on something and before I know it, it's past 6 pm.

We have also booked our flights for Canada. We leave on the 15th december and return on January 5. I haven't spent Christmas in Canada since I left 22 years ago, so this will be a première. It's really exciting for me.

That's all for tonight. If I find the energy, I'll write a bit more this week.

Baby, you can drive my car...

Ok. So I'm not the Beatles and it's not my car. In a previous post, I was tellling you about putting stripes on a car, and that it's not as easy as it looks.

Some of you (my Dad, amongst others) whished to see the finished product. Well, Tadaaa!! Here it is, before...

and after...

The "after" picts were taken during our European exhibition and you'll notice that I took our company logo (to spare the innocent, as Mrs. TBF would say).

So. If I can do your car, just let me know. I will also record my new swearing technique, if you want (depending on how difficult the task is ;-).

As for the rest of the week, OrangeX and I just relaxed at home and celebrated our birthdays in peace and quiet. Also nice, no?

Yesterday, we went out for dinner to celebrate and in the rush, forgot to take the camera along. Oh well. The food was great. The funniest thing was that towards the end of the evening, this guy walked up to me and said: "Don't I know you from somewhere?". I looked at him and suddenly, my eyes beamed: "Christian!". Believe it or not, it was my tutor during my apprenticeship at Swiss Telecom 20 (!!) years ago! He sat a table away from me the whole evening and I didn't notice (ok, he was sitting almost behind us). Such a pity that I didn't have my camera with me. We chatted for about an hour, or so, and exchanged e-mail addresses. I'll keep in touch with him.

That is all for tonight. I'm still battered from last week's exhibition, so I'll take it a bit easier for the coming weeks - if I can :-)

What happened on October 24th?

A few important events I found on Wiki:

• 1260 - The spectacular Cathedral of Chartres is dedicated in the presence of King Louis IX of France; the cathedral is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
• 1360 - The Treaty of Brétigny is ratified at Calais, marking the end of the first phase of the Hundred Years' War.
• 1648 - The Peace of Westphalia is signed, marking the end of the Thirty Years' War.
• 1795 - Partitions of Poland: The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth is completely divided between Austria, Prussia and Russia
• 1857 - Sheffield F.C., the world's first football club, is founded in Sheffield, England.
• 1861 - The first transcontinental telegraph line across the United States is completed, spelling the end for the 18-month-old Pony Express.
• 1917 - Battle of Caporetto starts on the Austro-Italian front of World War I
• 1929 - "Black Thursday" stock market crash on the New York Stock Exchange.
• 1930 - A bloodless coup d'état in Brazil ousts Washington Luís Pereira de Sousa, the last President of the First Republic. Getúlio Dornelles Vargas is then installed as "provisional president."
• 1935 - Italy invades Ethiopia
• 1944 - World War II: The Japanese aircraft carrier Zuikaku is sunk.
• 1945 - Founding of the United Nations
• 1954 - Dwight D. Eisenhower pledges United States support to South Vietnam
• 1960 - Nedelin catastrophe: An R-16 ballistic missile explodes on the launch pad at the Soviet Union's Baikonur Cosmodrome space facility, killing 165. Among the dead is Field Marshall Mitrofan Nedelin, whose death is reported to have occurred in a plane crash.
• 1964 - Northern Rhodesia gains independence from the United Kingdom and becomes the Republic of Zambia (Southern Rhodesia remained a colony)
• 1973 - Yom Kippur War ends
  1977 - Veterans Day is observed on the fourth Monday in October for the seventh and last time. (The holiday is once again observed on November 11 beginning the following year.)
• 1980 - Government of Poland legalizes Solidarity trade union
• 1986 - Nezar Hindawi is sentenced to 45 years in prison, the longest sentence handed down by a British court, for the attempted bombing on an El Al flight at Heathrow. After the verdict, the United Kingdom breaks diplomatic relations with Syria, claiming that Hindawi was helped by Syrian officials.
• 1990 - Italian prime minister Giulio Andreotti reveals to the Italian parliament the existence of Gladio, the Italian "stay-behind" clandestine paramilitary NATO army.
• 1995 - A total solar eclipse is visible from Iran, India, Thailand, and SE Asia
• 1998 - Launch of Deep Space 1 comet/asteroid mission
• 2002 - Police arrest spree killers John Allen Muhammad and Lee Boyd Malvo, ending the Beltway sniper attacks in the area around Washington, DC.
• 2003 - Concorde makes its last commercial flight, bringing the era of airliner supersonic transport to a close, at least for the time being.
• 2004 - A plane carrying ten members of the NASCAR Hendrick Motorsports team crashes en route to the race held at Martinsville Speedway. There were no survivors.
• 2005 - Hurricane Wilma makes landfall in South Florida.

I think I have to contact Wikipedia.... They forgot one very important event. I admit, it might not important to to every single human being on earth, though :-)

In 1965 at 12:10 pm, I, CanadianSwiss, saw the light of day for the first time. Yes! Today, I turned 41 (although I've never really grown up)

And you know what? I'm thankful to have such great parents, family and friends (cyber and not so cyber). You all mean a lot to me.

Have a great day!

Sad and happy moments in Holland

Exciting days in Holland I had indeed. The reason for going over was the toughest I’ve ever had in my life. On my daughter’s birthday I received a phone call from my sister who told me my ex-wife was very ill. I was shocked to hear my ex-wife, Anjella, has cancer and there’s no hope for winning this battle. I felt hammered, beaten up and needed time to absorb this information. I can’t tell you how lousy I felt after this news. We have been married for 12 years and after a hard time after the divorce, we became real friends. We do have regular contact as we have a daughter. Our daughter, Selina turned 16 on the 18th of September.

I tried to call Anjella that same evening but her boy friend told me she was in no state to come to the phone. “It’s okay”, I said, “I’ll call again tomorrow”. The next day I called Anjella again and we had a long talk. I can tell you this was an emotional talk. We agreed on me coming over to Holland as soon as possible to discuss the arrangements for Selina. We had to arrange for the custody and Selina herself at that moment didn’t want to think about it at all. You must know I haven’t seen or heard my daughter since Anjella and I split up 4 ½ years ago. I would go up to Holland the 1st week of October.

Due to the start of Anjella’s chemo-therapy treatment I had to postpone my trip for a week. I drove up on the 11th of October to meet with Anjella at her place. It was tough to see her again after the last visit to her place in June this year. Last time we met everything was okay, now all is uncertain. I just hope that the therapy helps her to slow down the growth of cancer cells and won’t wear her out. Anjella told me she had the chance to have a serious talk with Selina about the custody and Selina prefers to stay with good friends. I just hope this moment won’t be for the next 5 years. I want my daughter to go through high school and do her studies to become a registered nurse having her mother around. Dear God, just don’t let Anjella suffer and don’t take my daughter’s mother away….

I spent most of the Wednesday with Anjella at her place. We sat outside in the garden and around three o’clock I heard the gate to the garden close. I turned around and saw “my little girl” coming in with her bicycle. At first she didn’t look at us. She put her bicycle away in the shed and after she came out, she turned her head towards us for a short moment. , enough to raise my hand and say “hi” to her. She answered with a “hi” and disappeared towards the front door. Within several seconds she appeared again and walked towards us. I got up and walked towards her, and then we just hugged and cried. I can’t describe the feeling of holding my daughter again after such a long time, but it has been my biggest wish over the past 4 ½ years. Finally a chance to see and hold my daughter again! I had to take along look at this young woman. She’s 1.74m and she has grown up. The little girl I remembered has vanished completely. Now she’s a teen, aware of the seriousness of Anjella’s situation and showing enormous love and care for her mother. I can understand why she wants to become a registered nurse. She’s born to be one. Selina sat down on my lap and we chatted for quite some time. I can’t describe the happiness in me in spite of the sad circumstances. Selina indicated it was strange and she would need some time to get used to the situation. That she will get, I won’t force anything. Re-building the relationship with my daughter will take time. I even got to meet Selina’s boy friend, Dennis, later that afternoon. Dennis is an uncomplicated young man with tons of ambition. I left them early in the evening to go to Brenda, my sister, as I would spent the coming nights at her place. Selina and I agreed on me coming over again the next day. As Anjella gets her treatment on Thursday we would probably meet at the hospital. I arrived at my sister’s place and I was drained. I felt exhausted but happy. I sent Selina a text message later that evening to tell her how good it felt to have seen her again. She replied she enjoyed it too…

We saw each other on Thursday and spent a bit of time together. As Anjella had her treatment on Thursday I left them early in the afternoon. Anjella was exhausted and needed some rest. On Friday, before I drove back home, I went by to see them again. Just for a short moment, but enjoying every second of seeing my daughter. It’s clear now; we’ll be in contact more frequently by phone, text message, MSN and in person. I promised Selina to be back in Holland the 1st weekend of November. Then we will see each other again.

Yesterday we were on the MSN messenger for a brief moment and today we talked on the phone. I’m happy the barriers have come down and that there’s also the initiative from her side to contact me.

In the past 4 ½ years we haven’t had any contact and I must say I was dead tired and emotionally drained, but inside I was filled with joy and happiness. She will need her time but now she knows I will be there for her and she can call me anytime. I’m looking forward to the next trip to Holland. I’m taking it easy for now, so you’ll have to wait for some photos until the next time or the time after that but there wil come a moment where I will share the moments with you. It was just so great to finally see Selina again...

Good times and a crazy rant

What a week! I don't even know where to start, but I'll just tell you this much... working in marketing the week before the largest Rehab exhibition in Europe is in one word, STRESS. Everything that could have gone wrong, did. But we got most of it "fixed" - not without a few panic attacks and probably a huge ulcer growing half an inch in my stomach at every terror phase. So I've decided to skip the details on the latter - also for my sake - and fill you in on more fun news.

How about last Saturday. We were invited by Thomas, and his lovely girlfriend, Nicole, for dinner at an Australian restaurant nearby called the Boomerang. It's always tough to choose the main course there because everything is so good. Hmmm. Filet of Roo? Emu steak? A Town and country steak? Ahhh yes. Perfect. The town and country is about 180-200g (6.5-7 ounces) of beef filet wrapped in a nice strip of bacon and served with a baked potatoe and season veggies. I admit that it is NOT Canadian beef, but it's pretty damn good! I'll have to ask them where they get it from.

Anyway, we had a fun evening together and many, many good laughs.

I kown I'm a bit late with this post, but what the heck! I lookk forward to going back again, maybe with Mr. and Mrs. TBF? I know they've been wanting to try out this restaurant for a while now.

Orange-X was in Holland from Wednesday until Friday and it turned out to be a very special few days, but I'll let him write about that.

Today, we spent about four hours sticking racing stripes on an AC Cobra (yes, it belongs to R.) The front which I did with a colleague last week went pretty well, but the back end of the car is a hell! I've done this for the first time in my life, for goodness' sake! I think that I even invented new curse words!... No, I will not repeat them! Never, never again will I do this! I know... I'm a wreck right now. The thing is that the bum of the car (think 3D now) has - if you stand behind it- a vertical and a horizontal curve, which means that the 2 stripes that you are soooo trying to set straight on that stupid (sorry R.) car ass will end up coming together at the bottom of the boot/trunk no matter what you do. Not to mention having to demount the licence plate, the license plate lighting to get the f**ckin' tape under it. I'm lucky to have so much hair because I'm sure I ripped out about 10'000 of 'em. Yes! This car is coming with us to the exhibition. I've had it! Why am I the stupid idiot alway trying to help and make every one happy? I think I'll need therapy soon! Geezzz! GOD! I can't wait to be outta there! And I love the company for what it used to stand for and the founder of the company, R. (even if he drives me nut sometimes. Heheheh). Now, how coconut crazy is that? Sal, you're sane compared to me.

Pffff. Decompressing....Sorry, but I had to get it out of my system.

I'll be out at the RehaCare in Düsseldorf, Germany all week and won't be back until 2-3am on Sunday. And I doubt that I'll write anything on Sunday. Have a great week!

A day to celebrate

Well, yes. Today's my mother's birthday. I just spoke to her for almost an hour. I'm happy to report that she spent a great evening at her brother's (my youngest uncle) yesterday and had a terrific dinner: a light salad, shrimps, Canadian filet mignon (those of you who have eaten Canadian beef know it's the best by far), vegetable and rice, plus an ice cream cake. Couldn't get any better for me.

Anyway, Mom: Again, happy, happy birthday and all of our best wishes to go along with a fantastic woman. We'll be there on your next birthday. And that's a promise!

I love you!

A break in Spain

We really had a great weekend at the El Montiboli Hotel in Villajoyosa. It's located about 30 km north of Alicante up on the cliffs overlooking the small fishing village. Just the place we needed. Our Easyjet flight took off on time from Basel airport and we reached our destination at 8:30 pm. From there, we took a taxi to our hotel and arrived around 9 pm. Our luggage was taken to our room and dinner was booked for us at the restaurant. We unpacked a bit and then left our room for the restaurant.

We were already practically falling asleep when the waiter came to us to take our orders, but we managed to stay awake until dinner was served. We had the foie gras and then beef with morels for the main course. I think I was too tired to really eat, but I did finish about half of the main course. A pity really, because it was delicious. After dinner and a digestive, we headed back to our room to find a Cava (local champagne) in a bucket filled with ice-water to welcome us. We decided to open the bottle even though we needed the sleep more. To our surprise, we finished the bottle out on the terrace and chatted until about 2:30 am! See, that's what good weather and the calming sounds and scent of the sea can do to you!

I woke up around 8 am the next day and the first thing I did was to go on the terrace and take in the sounds of the waves on the rocky shores and the pebble beach. I was in heaven! OrangeX got up shortly after and we showered and got ready for breakfast. After that, we decided to go for a walk and explore the hotel surroundings and the beach a bit. We decided to have a look and see what Villajoyosa was all about and found a very quiet town. Nevertheless, we walked along the beach, bought ourselves a bottle of water. The weather was clearing up and the temperature was increasing by the minute, so we walked back up the steep hill back to the hotel. It was after all a 2+ hour walk, so we were longing for the pool. Once we got to our room, we jumped into our bathing suit and went to the pool to relax.

We didn't do much more that that the whole three days, except for a short excursion in Benidorm about 10km from Villajoyosa. So it was sleep, pool, drinks at the bar, food and then chatting away on our terrace.

It was exactly what we needed! I wish we could have extended our stay a few more days, but we had to return. We do want to return to Spain. Maybe next time, we'll visit Sal, a blogger pal near Madrid.

If you want to see pictures of the beautiful setting and views, you'll find them here. I've been back to real life for 4 days and I wanna go back!

Sozializing can be so tough

Before I start this actual entry, I wish to take the time to thank you all for the good thoughts and kind comments to my previous post. It was indeed a very difficult decision, but I know that I will be taking wonderful memories with me and of course stay in touch with a few colleagues.

Furthermore, Blogger is now throwing me off everytime I add links and publish. So you'll have to google or wiki whatever you find interesting until I have solved the problem. Anyway.

One of the things I will miss very much will be our so called “MasterClass”. It’s an annual event where we invite the Product Managers and/or Sales Managers and/or Marketers from all countries selling our products to participate. We prepare hands-on trainings on products, inform them of our development plans, brainstorm about future needs, organise workshops and have an external speaker over for an afternoon to talk about a specific marketing topic. And then, we organise team-building weekend activities for those who wish to participate. In the past years, we had wild water rafting, abseilen, night sledging in the mountains, paragliding, kayaking, adventure trails, cable gliding, and other fun stuff. This year, we are focusing our new product launch based on racing. The reason is that R., a quad - or tetraplegic, if you prefer- is not only the founder of the company but also came up with the idea of this new design. Now guess what his pastime is? Of couse! Racing. He races his Shellby Cobra (450HP) against able bodied competitors using a sip and puff system that enables him to shift gears; gas and brakes are hand controlled.

Now to this year’s “the company I still work for” MasterClass. Kick-off was last Wednesday around 1:30pm and we went through all the workshop and brainstorming bits. Then came the weekend: We left the office premises around 3:30 pm on Friday afternoon and made our way to our hotel Colmar, France, where we had booked rooms for everybody. We met for a few drinks at the bar before going to a typical Alsacian restaurant. After dinner, we took a last drink at the bar and all went to bed.

I must emphasize that nobody outside the Marketing team of “the company I still work for” has even the slightest clue of the whole event and what is carefully prepared for them. We follow the racing theme, yes? Okay. On Saturday morning, we had breakfast together and left the hotel around 9:30 am to visit the car museum in Mulhouse - if you like Bugatti, you’d love it there – and had a guided tour through the history of it all. We had lunch there and departed for the next “unknown” destination, which just by chance happened to be a race track.
We arrived and all “we” saw were motorbike trainings. Motorbikes? Hmmm. Everyone watched for a while and then, this couple came over to our group and started explaining to our guests that they were about to get some driving training on either… *drum roll*… a) a Ferrari or b) a Formula Ford 2000 car. You should have seen their jaws drop and their eyes light up when they saw the 2 Formaula cars and the one Ferrari pushed out of the hangars! They were all excited like kids seconds before they open their Christmas presents. For me, this is always a brilliant moment!

We had some theoretical training on security on the track and were given papers to sign (the usual insurance stuff). We formed two groups and had to choose which vehicle we wanted to drive. Since we had quite a few tall and bulky guys, I opted for the Formula car: 160 HP, weighs next to nothing, a one-seater, your ass to the ground and a real racing feeling. Shortly after the training, we started driving. The 1st round with the Ferrari was always driven by the trainer followed by a quick pit stop to change places and the next 4 laps by the newbie. The ones like me who drove the Formula were on the track all alone. There were other cars on the 3 km track as well, so we had to keep an open eye. I must admit that it can be quite scary to get used to this car type during the first two laps (after which we had to do a quick pit stop). From then on, I had another 4 laps to go and was not half as scared. Actually, I must have been doing between 190-220 km/h (120-135 mph) on the stretch of the last lap. There is no speedometer on there, so I can only guess, but I really pushed down the pedal. It was great fun and I would have done a few extra laps, but the next was waiting for his turn.

R. also came by with his Cobra and took on passengers to show them what racing is all about. He loved it and so did we. It was absolutely exhilarating!

At dinner, all were talking about their driving experience and I think we made a whole bunch of people very happy. We had a few drinks on the terrace and then in the bar, but I think all the excitement got to them at some point and some had to get up very early to catch their flights to their respective countries, and went to bed at a fairly reasonable hour (1:30 am).

I got home around 10 am on Sunday, but I was beat, so I just took it easy. Socializing can be so tough! This week at work was also pretty strenuous, but I am looking forward to the El Montiboli . Yes! OrangeX and I are flying off to Alicante/Spain for a three day rest. No laptops coming with us. No way! We’re going to do NADA! Just get some sun and let ourselves be pampered. Thanks for the hint, TBF.

You'll find pictures here.

Have a great weekend and see you all next week!

English around the world

Translation obviously is not everybody's strength. Enjoy!

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Publicity for donkey riding in Thailand
"Would you like to ride on your own ass?"

Temple in Bangkok
"It is forbidden to enter a woman even a foreigner if dressed as a man."

Bar in Tokyo
"Special cocktails for the ladies with nuts."

Ticket corner in Kopenhagen
"We take your bags and send them in all directions."

Hotel in Moscow
"If this is your first visit to the USSR, you are welcome to it."

Cocktail lounge in a hotel in Norway
"Ladies are requested not to have children in the bar."

Zoo in Budapest
"Please do not feed the animals. If you have any suitable food, give it to the guard on duty."

Medical doctor in Rome
"Specialist in women and other diseases."

Hotel in Acapulco
"The manager has personally passed all the water served here."

Boutique in Tokyo
"Our nylons cost more than common, but you’ll find they are best in the long run."

Hotel in Japan
"Cooles and Heates: If you want just condition of warm in your room, please control yourself."

Car hire in Tokyo
"When passenger of foot heave in sight, tootle the horn. Trumpet him melodiously at first, but if he still obstacles your passage then tootle him with vigor."

Boutique in Mallorca
"English well talking"
"Here speeching American"

Hotel in Tokyo
"Is forbidden to steal hotel towels please. If you are not a person to do such thing is please not to read notis."

Hotel in Bukarest
"The lift is being fixed for the next day. During that time we regret that you will be unbearable."

Elevator in a hotel in Leipzig
"Do not enter the lift backwards, and only when lit up."

Elevator in a hotel in Beograd
"To move the cabin, push button for wishing floor. If the cabin should enter more persons, each one should press a number of wishing floor. Driving is then going alphabetically by national order."

Elevator in hotel in Paris
"Please leave your values at the front desk."

Hotel in Athens
"Visitors are expected to complain at the office between the hours of 9 and 11 A.M. daily."

Hotel in Yugoslavia
"The flattening of underwear with pleasure is the job of the chambermaid."

Hotel in Japan
"You are invited to take advantage of the chambermaid."

Hotel in Moscow for a trip to a monastery
"You are welcome to visit the cemetery where famous Russian and Soviet composers, artists, and writers are buried daily except Thursday."

Swiss restaurant
"Our wines leave you nothing to hope for."

Polish hotel
"Salad a firm’s own make; limpid red beet soup with cheesy dumplings in the form of a finger; roasted duck let loose; beef rashers beaten up in the country people’s fashion."

Taylor in Hong Kong
"Ladies may have a fit upstairs."

Taylor in Rhodos
"Order your summers suit. Because is big rush we will execute customers in strict rotation."

Dry cleaning in Bangkok
"Drop your trousers here for best results."

Camp site in Germany
"It is strictly forbidden on our black forest camping site that people of different sex, for instance, men and women, live together in one tent unless they are married with each other for that purpose."

Hotel in Zurich
"Because of the impropriety of entertaining guests of the opposite sex in the bedroom, it is suggested that the lobby be used for this purpose."

Dentist in Hong Kong
"Teeth extracted by the latest Methodists."

Rome
"Ladies, leave your clothes here and spend the afternoon having a good time."

Tourist office in Austria
"Take one of our horse-driven city tours – we guarantee no miscarriages."

The Orange Soul

I haven't been blogging much lately. I only visited the favorites and left a comment here and there. I didn't even see the Soul of CS. I checked it out, answered the questions et voilà: this is the Orange Soul...

What Your Soul Really Looks Like

You are a wanderer. You constantly long for a new adventure, challenge, or eve a completely different life. You are a very grounded, responsible, and realistic person. People may not want to hear the truth from you, but they're going to get it. You see yourself with pretty objective eyes. How you view yourself is almost exactly how other people view you. Your near future is calm, relaxing, and pretty much what you want. And it's something you've been anticipating for a while now. For you, love is all about caring and comfort. You couldn't fall in love with someone you didn't trust.

The big news

Now to the big news...

I have given my resignation at work last Wednesday. Yes! By the time I leave, I will have been working there for over 8 years! It was a very tough choice, but my health is worth more to me. I have a 3 month resignation period which means that – counting the holidays I have left – I’ll have my last day there on December 5th, 2006.

I know this decision may sounds stupid/weird considering that we are moving to Canada next summer, but if I have to force myself to work every morning for the next 6-7 months, it would have been hell. I sincerely hope that this is not a burn out, but honestly, I think that I have involved myself too emotionally and intensely in this company. Then again, that’s me. I am very emotional and I can only work for a company and products in which I believe. Somehow, the combination of certain people and circumstances in the past few years slowly put an end to it. I don’t want to blame it all there, but it certainly had a strong influence on my decision.

I don’t know what the future holds, but I can freelance and can take on temporary jobs until we leave. I don’t want to build up such a grudge against the company and the people that I end up hating it/them when I leave. I had to do it for me. It will certainly be rough financially the coming months, but I feel confident that all will turn out fine. Still, it was a big part of my life and I am sad to have to take this step.

...Hmmm.... I wonder how I will feel once I have really left… I’ll let you know.

Indonesian dinner # 3 and Mount Pilatus

I have so much in my head right now, that I’m not really sure where to begin. I think the best is to start where I promised to start: our last “Indonesian summer party”.

Ever since we told Ma about the first of three Indonesian nights, she wanted to be part of it and meet all our friends, too, so she offered to cook for the group. Because we knew we’d be expecting about 9 guests (plus the four of us), OrangeX decided to take the Friday off to do the groceries and help Ma with the preparation of the meal for the next day. She decided to make a very traditional Nasi Koening (pronounced nasi kooning). It is an aromatic yellow rice, usually part of the Indonesian “Rijstafel” or Rice Table. It can be served with just about any meat (satay skewers, meat balls, chicken, etc.), but Ma opted for meat balls, and chicken thighs and drumsticks served with the obligatory sambals (chilli pastes) on the side. Sliced of cucumber, bell pepper, thin stripes of omelette and dried onion topped the whole thing off. As a starter, she had also made her wonderful Pasteitjes which are something like the Indian samosas, but the dough is filled with a mix of glass noodles, ground beef, onions, garlic (??.. yeah, probably…), carrots and peas that has simmered in a special mix of spices and herbs, then baked in the oven. These are served with a sweet/hot chilli sauce. Yummy!

On Saturday, we prepared the tables out in the garden since the weather looked promising. We were supposed to be 13 people that evening, but Paolo was not feeling well, so he cancelled and Markus decided to stay at home to take care of him. The first guests, Thomas and Nicole arrived first. It was a good thing, since a couple of weeks before, they had brought us a 3 litre bottle of Crémant (bubbly wine) that we had cooled as a welcome drink. I promptly asked him to open it for me and then… the cork broke off!

Not only did it break off, but all the air had somehow escaped and whilst trying to pull it out with a normal corkscrew, the cork just fell into with the slightest push. Poor Thomas! He felt so bad, although he couldn’t have known when he bought it! Luckily, we had enough reserve in our fridge to cover all requests. Rammy, John, Diana and Andi arrived, followed by Doug and we had a few drinks and chats before serving the pasteitjes. Later, Ma, OrangeX and I went up to prepare the plates of nasi koening for each guest. We had a lovely evening with our friends and were even able to enjoy the whole meal outside.

Around 2 am, a few drops of rain started falling, so we all scrunched up under the balcony and I pulled out the sun screen to cover us all. We enjoyed coffee, a few single malts and Speckkoek, and all we had a fun time together. You’ll find all the pictures of the evening here.

On the Sunday, we took a quick drive to Paolo and Markus to bring them a doggy bag that we had carefully prepared of the dinner that we had the evening before. Paolo was feeling a bit better, but still not well. After that, we decided to go to Mount Pilatus, which is about an hour 15 minutes awas from Basel. We took the gondola cableway to Fräkmüntegg, the second highest stop to the top of the Pilatus because 1) we weren't sure how Pa would manage a lower concentration of oxygen (because of his damaged lungs) and 2) the last drive down would have left us but 15-20 minutes of view. Although the Pilatus is by far not the highest peak in Switzerland, we did get to 1416 meters over sea level and Pa took it very well. He really enjoyed the view and the clean air. Pa is very quiet and many would think that he is not enjoying it or that he's just staring into emptiness. He's not! He was fully in awe, probably feeling tiny before those great mountains and peaks covered with the eternal snow, but taking in everything he could. It's a scene I'll never forget. We took in the beautiful view over Lucerne and the lake, had a coffee and sandwich and went back down again. See pictures here.

Yesterday, we drove Ma and Pa back to the Airport. It was again a very sad event. I hate goodbyes and it was so good to have them over for the past three weeks. I will surely miss them, but we will be back in Holland to visit before we go to Canada. For them however, it's their last visit to see us in Switzerland. Well, maybe. I know they will miss it. I hope that Pa stays healthy enough to visit us in our new home in Canada. I truely do.

I though I'd start with this... Is this my soul

What Your Soul Really Looks Like

You are a warm hearted and open minded person. It's easy for you to forgive and forget. You are a very grounded, responsible, and realistic person. People may not want to hear the truth from you, but they're going to get it. You see yourself with pretty objective eyes. How you view yourself is almost exactly how other people view you. Your near future is likely to be filled with great successes and accomplishments. You just need to figure out how to get there. For you, love is all about caring and comfort. You couldn't fall in love with someone you didn't trust.

Inside the Room of Your Soul

Short update

Just a few words to let you know that all is fine, but we're both very busy right now. I haven't been visiting many blogs lately, but I will catch up. As you know, Ma and Pa OrangeX are visiting and I don't want to come home at 7pm from work and spend hours on the internet when Ma's been preparing dinner for us. I just think that it's not very polite. Secondly, right now I'm working 11-12 hours straight and in the evening, I need the break. OrangeX is just as busy - if not more.

Last weekend, we had a another little party with friends and on Sunday, we went to Mount Pilatus with Ma and Pa, but I'll tell you all about it in another post later this week. Then I'll have more news for you, but that will also have to wait 'till the next post. And no, I'm not pregnant! ;-)

Anyway, I'l be back to my old blogging self from November on, so bare with me, ok? :-)

Love and miss you all!