Waking up for church: I hate church. I was forced to go when I was younger and I only voluntarily go now if it is for a wedding or a funeral. Neither occasion fills me with joy. We climbed into the little Peugeot and went speeding off in the general direction of the chapel. Must have passed it twice before realizing what it was.
It was in a very modern purpose built hall that was perfect for small concerts and children's plays. It has a circular or octagonal layout with a floor level stage area and the pews spread out in a triangular pattern from the front going up like in a theater. The acoustics were excellent. I am thankful for that as there was little else going that held my interest. I have been in churches like this before. It seems that they always use the same design over and over again no mater where they build in the country. It also seems that the design is updated every 50 years or so. So the older church buildings have one design and the newer ones have this design.
Ann saw someone there that she sat with on the plane ride over. What a small world we live in.
Sunday, February 25, 2007
Saturday, February 24, 2007
Day Two
Breakfast: eggs and grits. I don't know how many of you out there have grown up on grits for breakfast but let me tell you after years away from home and not being a cook myself I sure as hell miss it. Yes we have grits over here in Europe. It's called Maisgrütze or Polento here in Switzerland.
Her specialty is making Pizza. We had a full day of window and grocery shopping while we foraged for the right ingredients. The names of some things are just different here and they don't prepare prepackage meet the same way as it's done in the USA. I have no idea what they call pepperoni over here.
Her specialty is making Pizza. We had a full day of window and grocery shopping while we foraged for the right ingredients. The names of some things are just different here and they don't prepare prepackage meet the same way as it's done in the USA. I have no idea what they call pepperoni over here.
Home again pizza for dinner and we talk about skis, helmets and kitchen knives. Turns out she is a ski instructor and wants to get me to switch from the dark side otherwise known as snowboarding.
Friday, February 23, 2007
Day One
I haven't been nervous all week. I should have been. Here I am about to meet a woman that hasn't seen me in 38 years!
Perhaps a short history lesson would be in order. I'm 38 years old. I've known all my life that I was adopted and the couple that raised me, I will refer to them as mom and dad, were more or less honest with me from the beginning.
So here I am waiting at the arrivals gate for Ann to come out and I don't see here anywhere. Now I start to get a bit worried. Did she make the plane? Was there a problem at customs? Are her bags lost and is she trying to locate them? It has been almost 20 minutes and the meeter for the car only had 10 minutes on it. I was looking at a ticket for sure. Turns out she arrived early and was sitting on the bench not 10 meters behind me while I was looking the wrong way at the arrivals gate. As soon as I spotted her I knew who she was. Her hair was lighter and longer in the photos that she had sent but the woman that that I saw sitting there with the really short dark hair was her. We have the same eyes.
As soon as we saw each other, big smiles. We grab her gear and start waking to the car. She explained how her plane was early and customs was a breeze. We get to the car, load up and drive home. No ticket.
I like showing visitors around when they come to Zürich. So on the way to the house I take the scenic route and give her a great view of the city and surrounding area. As we go I tell her all about the different ways the traffic signals and signs are different here than the were in the states.
We went out for lunch later and then to the local apple store to check out the new macbooks. During the tram ride home she marveled at the architecture and how clean everything was.
After arriving home she noticed my DVD collection I was supprised at how many shows we both liked. So that first night we sat down and started watching season one of Farscape on DVD.
Perhaps a short history lesson would be in order. I'm 38 years old. I've known all my life that I was adopted and the couple that raised me, I will refer to them as mom and dad, were more or less honest with me from the beginning.
So here I am waiting at the arrivals gate for Ann to come out and I don't see here anywhere. Now I start to get a bit worried. Did she make the plane? Was there a problem at customs? Are her bags lost and is she trying to locate them? It has been almost 20 minutes and the meeter for the car only had 10 minutes on it. I was looking at a ticket for sure. Turns out she arrived early and was sitting on the bench not 10 meters behind me while I was looking the wrong way at the arrivals gate. As soon as I spotted her I knew who she was. Her hair was lighter and longer in the photos that she had sent but the woman that that I saw sitting there with the really short dark hair was her. We have the same eyes.
As soon as we saw each other, big smiles. We grab her gear and start waking to the car. She explained how her plane was early and customs was a breeze. We get to the car, load up and drive home. No ticket.
I like showing visitors around when they come to Zürich. So on the way to the house I take the scenic route and give her a great view of the city and surrounding area. As we go I tell her all about the different ways the traffic signals and signs are different here than the were in the states.
We went out for lunch later and then to the local apple store to check out the new macbooks. During the tram ride home she marveled at the architecture and how clean everything was.
After arriving home she noticed my DVD collection I was supprised at how many shows we both liked. So that first night we sat down and started watching season one of Farscape on DVD.
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