Bagless rocks

Today I was gonna hoover, with two furry monsters it's needed at least once a week. Hoovering is not as satisfying as mopping the floor, but nevertheless I do it.

And I gotta say, the bagless I got some years ago is probably the best investment since my flat. I would've been ruined from buying bags, both from me losing hair but more so the kitties.

Last time I hoovered the machine stopped, and I realized it was full and emptied it. Today it stopped for no reason, and I took both filters out and cleaned them (from about half a kg of cathair!) and was ready to go again. No go. Dead as the Norwegian blue parrot. As in no longer with us. Like gone to the pastures. Deceased. Gone to see its maker. It's ceased to be, it's a goner.

So I took comfort in that a friend was visiting this evening, it's his job to repair things in my home, but whaddayaknow, all of a sudden the hoover was humming again like a bird. Guess it was just resting.

Healthy doggy

My fav dog was visiting the vet this morning, and I was informed throughout the day. She was put to sleep (not permanently mind you) in order to check out her cough, and to clean her teeth. Turned out she had a rotten tooth, which was removed, and we were surprised since she has shown no sign of pain before.

The vet couldn't immediately find something wrong with her throat, but will seek a second opinion. And doggy, who visited me this evening, was as happy as ever as she munched down the chicken bits I saved for her.

It's funny, I'm making lunch boxes for the owner and every time he puts it into the microwave at lunchtime she patiently waits for it to heat up. She knows, she's gonna get to share. When I cook meat I usually put a smaller piece in there, and that's dedicated to her. It's good to know they both love my cooking, even though I'm often using chili and lots of spices. You can tell 'cause after the meal she's drinking the water bowl empty :).

Early next week we're going vitaparcoursing together again. Fun!

Migros payback

As you know if you live in Switzerland Migros has this card that gives you points for every purchase, and every second month or so they send you a voucher depending on how much you bought. I usually get 5 francs.

Some time ago I realized that a good friend of mine didn't have this card, and I immediately jumped at the opportunity and got a second card for him. Actually, it's not a card, just a bar code you attach to any of your other cards. And then I sat down waiting to reap the benefit of his purchases.

Imagine my disappoinment when I today again received a voucher for a measly 5 francs. I know, it's money too, but I was awaiting at least double if not more. Maybe he forgets to show the card in the store? We're gonna have a chat about that.

Nordic walking

I come from the far north, but never ever will you see me walking with sticks, so called "Nordic walking". Since I started to be more active I have noticed that this particular way of movement is very popular here in Switzerland.

I go powerwalking/jogging and all of a sudden in the middle of the forest I hear "click-click-click-click". Extremely disturbing, plus it looks ridiculous.

Mind you, they may think the same about me 'cause I bring my (light) weights, walking and flexing my arms (bingowings goodbye) up and down while at it.

Still, walking with sticks ain't my thing. But the person who marketed a ski pole to be used for something as silly should get a medal. Clever, to invent something totally unnecessary and get rich because of it. Thumbs up.

Cheap dates

I have some very good friends, who also are really cheap as dates. Water, coffee and anything non-alcoholic. Unlike me, who takes any opportunity to have a glass of white. Heck, I don't even need a reason.

But it was nice to catch up over a plate of cold cuts (incl homemade strawberry jam and a hot tomato/chili chutney) and as dessert a delish strawberry cake. The only thing that didn't cooperate was the weather today. No chance to sit on the balcony. Luckily tomorrow is gonna be better.

Which is when I'll make up for the lack of steps today. That pedometer is a gadget that keeps you on your toes, so to speak.

So close

Today I thought I had it. I did the jog/powerwalk/run in 18 minutes. 17 minutes is the goal for getting to the "outstanding" time. Pissed me off. But to be perfectly honest, I have more in me, and can push harder. I just wanna be able to do it once, then I can tick the box and put it behind me.

But seriously, it ain't bad for a person my age who smokes like a chimney and drinks like a fish.

A new love

I think I must do as many people do, I must ditch one love for another. Feri, you're a star but today I had the privilege of riding a new horse. Black, beautiful and tremendously well trained. And I didn't have the feeling of "oh jeez is he gonna buck or be too difficult for me to handle", it was more smooth sailing.

And he was fast, which I like a lot. But I also got criticism for that. "Annika, you're too fast, slow down, you're supposed to trot not run" and similar, but I didn't care. I enjoyed it a lot. What a fantastic horse!

I think the trainer picked up on that, since she happened to mention that he was for sale. "You can buy him".

And no, if I would buy a horse I would have to find a way to fund it, and therefore would have no time for a horse. They are bloody expensive. We're talking 15-20 thou to buy the horse, then 1-2 thou a month for keeping it plus all the extras. Nah, it's not gonna work even though I was tempted for a minute.

I really hope I get the chance to ride him again!

Life rocks

Every day I am grateful for the life I live, but today I was a little more so. It started out with a sale at my local Denner (they are renovating and therefore closing for three weeks) with 30% on everything. Can I just say I wasn't alone there at eight in the morning. But I got the stuff I wanted, mainly cat food, and even got some help to carry it home.

Then I was with dog the whole day. We did a vitaparcours round in the morning, which is really funny with a companion. She's a real darling and I had to laugh a lot. She looks at me when I'm doing the exercises like I'm crazy, she might have a point there, and when we get to the little lake in the middle of the forest, she goes absolutely bananas and wants to swim.

Then we had a little rest, all the four of us. Two cats watching the "monster", but when they get too close the dog retreats. Clever dog. Trust me, never play with a cat, they always win.

After that doggie and I went for a walk into town, and of course she went bathing every chance she got.

In the afternoon we met up with the dog owner, and went for a premiere cruise on the lake this year. It was gorgeous. Warm, sunny, practically no wind and few people. And we had wine and sandwiches and music.

I was thinking of how lucky I am. I am healthy, I have good friends, I have a boat, I have animals around me and I live in the best city in the world. There is nothing that can top this!

PS. And I'm almost up to 25,000 steps today. An added plus to a perfect day.

Earth day

Today google has a quiz due to earth day. Not sure how it's connected, but the quiz gives you the answer which animal you are.

Tada, I'm a woolly mammoth "So unique, you're technically extinct. But on the bright side, scientists hope to be able to clone you some day!" Hehe.

Lippizzaner ride

Yesterday I was riding my second fav, a lippizzaner, a breed that is mostly known for performing at the Spanish riding school in Vienna. I saw them when I was 15 years old and in the midst of my first horse-crazy period. I was in awe then, and still am.

If you're not a rider, you don't get how difficult it is to get the horse to perform like they do, and making it look effortless. Trust me, it takes many, many years of daily training to get as good as they are. Obviously I was nowhere near it yesterday.

However, I got a compliment. Not from the teacher mind you, we're still at "Annika, where are you not supposed to be looking?". Me: "at the horses ears". Right.

No, it was from a fellow student, who I consider to be the star in our little group of four. She said to me "you may not be as powerful as I am, but I think you're better technically". Not sure she's right, but I am still basking in the praise, especially since she's normally the one who always knows everything, and who I believe to be the better rider.

The less powerful she was referring to is that I cannot ride for 50 minutes without taking breaks. I am sweating like a pig, need to drink water in between, and have decided that after these six months (ending June) I will go back to 30 minutes lessons with a private teacher. That way I hopefully will last the whole lesson, and I don't have to take other horses into consideration. The riding hall is not that big, so now you always have to look out for the others.

I look forward to learn more, especially now when I have gotten to know the horses a bit better, and one day I shall jump again!

Swiss XVIII

At the interview I asked about why I haven't received the results of my German test, made in January, and when I was promised to get the outcome six weeks later. Turns out you only get a letter if you didn't pass, which they didn't tell you at the time.

I find it a bit weird that you're asked to pay 250 francs for a test, and then you don't get to know what the result was.

However, today I saw the score. I had six points missing, and those six I'm sure was just one question (there weren't that many) and that one was in Swiss German. I had a feeling I answered incorrectly on that one.

The speaking part was top score. I'm sure they don't take incorrect grammatics into the equation. The writing part was also top notes. Now I'm certain they don't care that much about grammatics. The reading bit was also 100%, but the listening (which included the Swiss German question) was where I was failing.

But all in all, I'm pretty happy with the results.

Swiss XVII

Today was a bit of an anticlimax. I had the interview, hopefully leading up to me being a real Swissie.

I have been studying pretty hard. That broschure I got before the interview has been read a number of times, and many of my friends have been questioning me, helping me to prepare for the interview.

Ok, some of the information I knew but now I also know everything about the political parties, the various "Rat" on the three different levels (Bund, Kanton, Gemeinde) and how many members they all have. As well as learning the names of the three females on the top level, the four men I chose to forget. And that wasn't even in the broschure.

I know the history of Zürich and of Switzerland, I know how many sports organizations there are in Zürich (500), I know the rights and the obligations (mainly to pay tax :) a Swiss citizen has, I know about the various political rights.

I even know that Zürich in the 400 BC was called Turicum and that Ulrich Zwingli (who I at first thought was mostly known for having a bus stop called up after him) in the 1600's was a reformer who welcomed refugees to the city.

Anyway, this time I was greeted by a younger man, and he was very friendly and open, as supposed to the first time when I visited the City council house to get the application form. I immediately felt at ease.

He first took the documents I had brought on request, and reviewed them for a few minutes. Then I was invited to join, and he explained the procedure. First I have to get approved by the city, which I got the impression wasn't gonna be a problem. And if approved, I get my name printed in a newspaper (gotta start reading The Tagblatt!). Then the application is sent to the cantonal level and at last to the country level. Every level issues a charge (no surprise there!).

Then we talked about my financial situation (of course they wanna make sure that I'm not gonna cost them anything), and finally...drumroll...he asked if I had read the broschure. I responded vividly that "all" my friends have been involved and that I've been studying really hard, which btw is true, and he just said "ok, so then you know". What??? Not even one question I got.

So there you go. But I don't feel that I studied for nothing, it was all interesting and now I know. Well, I'll know for sure in about eight months. This is the estimated time it'll take for them to process my application. So my plan of having a party, celebrating, in september was probably a bit optimistic.

Slow but steady, that's ze Swiss for you!

Hugo

Today my fav dog came to join me early in the morning. We did a vitaparcours round, and she stayed with me the whole time. Mind you, she was looking at me a bit when I was doing the various movements at the stations, but she is a very flexible dog and when we took a detour at the little lake in the forest she was as happy as one could be. She loves to swim. As well as shake off the water at me afterwards.

And that got me thinking coming back. I have this idea since quite some time that I should get my own dog. So I googled, and found Hugo. Hugo is a bigger dog than I anticipated, but somehow I felt like this might be it.

So in the evening I had a friend of mine phoning up the owner to ask if he was still available. He was. However, in order to get a dog in Switzerland you have to take a theory course of four lessons. Before you're even considered to take over a homeless dog.

I actually don't mind. Not everybody is as good with animals as I am, and I understand that you have to have certain basic skills.

I just wish it was the same with children.

19 minutes!

I did it! I jogged/powerwalked the round in 19 minutes, which means good. 17 minutes is regarded outstanding, and that's my next goal. But there is no rush so to speak.

Tomorrow I'll have a dog with me, and that might slow me down a bit. It's not like I'm competing, I just enjoy feeling more healthy and agile.

At the same time, my cig producer has launched a new packaging and is therefore selling them at a discount. Gotta stock up!

Good and bad, yin and yang, plus and minus. Guess that's life.

Sächsilüüte 2015

This year "der Böögg" burned down in a little over 20 minutes, according to some old myth indicating a mediocre summer, but today it was fabulous weather.

I took a stroll into town clad in only a sleeveless top, a short dress and bare legs. I know, not pretty with shiny white legs, but I need to start somewhere. I don't agree with a friend I met, who claimed that "I was born white, so that's how it meant to be". I believe more in improvement of what you've got. Except for when it comes to clothes of course, since I hate shopping.

Anyway, I went down to the city, thinking that shops were open. They were not. And I got caught behind the lines and lines of people. It's not that I am extremely claustrophobic, but I don't like crowds, so finally I managed to cross the street and get to my fav bar, where I sat down with a drink and watched all the "Zünfte" parade by. A "Zunft" as I understand it (nobody has been able to properly explain it) is an organization consisting of one profession like bakers, smiths, painters and people who make flour, that sorta thing. And it's not only you have to be one, you have to have a friend or several of them recommending you into a "Zunft". Can I mention that there are very few women involved?

Most of them are very old (surprise, surprise!), and all the "Zünfte" are parading by in wagons drawn by horses. And they shit. Not that I mind, 'cause horseshit doesn't smell that bad, but you have to be careful not to trot in it. However, Zürich city excels in cleaning up. Two hours after the parade was over, there was no shit to be seen.

And even though the city was crowded I managed to find a few spots where the view was fab and there was space enough to breath.

Can I just reiterate that I love Zürich?

A humbling experience

I was put in my place today at the riding lesson. Well, that's stretching it, but I didn't get what the teacher was telling me, so she asked me to dismount and showed me what she meant. And that's a real humbling experience, 'cause when she did it, it looked like a stroll in the park. And it was an easy thing.

However, today was hot and I didn't mind a break of a few minutes, gulping down half a liter of water, while watching what I should've done and didn't do.

But afterwards it went better, and I could clearly understand what she was saying. The way you sit on a horse has a big impact, which I kinda knew, but at the time had forgotten.

And as always, when we do leg-yielding I hear "Annika, look up in the corner, not at the horse's ears". Yeah-yeah, one day I will learn.

Up mine

So after going to and fro on the ass problem, I finally decided to have a check-up. Not that it bothers me and gives me pain on a continued basis, but I thought what the heck, why not do a little prevention to what might be a bigger problem later on.

And I gotta say, I just love the doctors in Switzerland. I showed up as we agreed on at 15.15 and was whisked into the doc's office immediately. We had a brief conversation about the problem, then I was led into an exam room, and a nurse asked me to take off my pants and shoes, not the underpants mind you, and I was placed on a bed on the left side. I got a little "sexy" paper blanket to cover myself with, and in came the doctor. Put a finger up my ass, then some sort of device, and it didn't hurt at all. After a minute or two, I was dressed again, and another conversation with the doc took place.

All in all it took 15 minutes and now I have an appointment for a colonoscopy.

And this is where I get a bit weary, since the doc's explanation is to not treat just the visible symtoms, but to check out that there is no bigger problem higher up. I buy that, even though I realize that they are selling treatments and that here in Switzerland you are more responsible for your own health than in other countries I lived in. But hey, I have started to treat my body as the temple it is (well, more or less), so why not go with the doc's recommendation?

Plus the fact that he said "in our age" these procedures are to be recommended.

Before the day I have to drink a lot, some sorta mixture to make my stomach empty. I, of course, asked if I could mix it with wine and he responded that it would be ok with white wine. "But it's a liter, that's a lot", he said. Haha and hurry for Swiss doctors!

Above average

I was around 21 minutes around the vitaparcours without the stations today. Average is 22, but I have to check the seconds next time. Plus today I did "run" a 6 minute-round before I started.

But that ain't bad for somebody with my previous lifestyle. I am pretty proud of myself!

I'm a libra

I can hardly believe it myself, but two days in a row I've been out for an hour doing the vitaparcours run. Well, run is stretching it, 'cause I mostly powerwalk but I do all the stations but one.

Apart from the station with beams which you're supposed to heave yourself up from, I can do all of the others. And even the walking backwards balancing on a wooden beam is getting easier.

It made me think of the time when I was out fishing at Tenerife, decades ago. It was a pretty high sea, and I was the only one having lunch together with the crew. The rest were up on deck emptying their stomachs. So my balance should be pretty good. It's just I haven't used it in a while.

I'm not at the stage of being a training maniac, but I must admit I enjoy it. Especially afterwards :).

Swiss XVI

One of the rights being a Swissie is that you have "Initiativrecht", i.e. the right to take an initiative. Which sounds a bit funny, but it means that if you have an idea, and get enough people to sign up for it, you can take it to a higher level and eventually, if you're lucky, it becomes a law. There is a bit more to it than that, but simplified, that is it.

There are few initiatives that are taken on, but recently ze Swissies made it more difficult for foreigners to become Swissies (just my luck!) and the initiative against minarets was accepted. Personally I think that all church bells should be forbidden, but I have a feeling I would be quickly voted down. There are also initiatives on a more local level, like if a new tramline should be allowed in Zürich. Direct democracy it's called.

However, my nerdy neighbour thinks Switzerland is a "half-direct" democracy, but it's not in my broschure, so I don't think it's gonna be in my favour to discuss it in the interview.

And recently I got a crash course in direct democracy. I sent out an email to all my neighbours, suggesting a "go green"-initiative. Meaning they could collect all their metal, bottles, and other disposable trash in containers that we would put in the basement, and I would, for free, bring it to the correct disposal containers. My thought was I have time, and they have less.

I was immediately voted down, with the reason that "it's everybody's responsibility" and "there is no need for another disposal station in the house", as well as a simple "no, I'm not interested". One party thought it was a great idea.

Now, I happen to know who gives a damn about green environment in this house and who does not. Most people take responsibility and recycle, but some do not care. And I only wanted to help.

But that's direct democracy for you. And for my next "initiative" I have learned that I have to state my reasons for it, and do a bit of marketing. And that's so not me. I think that what is obvious to me, it should be for everybody.

Common sense I think it's called.

Swiss XV

As a preparation step before my interview with ze Swiss authorities, I wrote an email to the most critical person I know, who also happens to be a neighbour. And as usual I procrastinated, thinking there is plenty of time to prepare.

Until today when I got an sms saying "coming over in 45 mins for your prep". Oops. But even then I managed to hang a wash, to clean an ashtray and to make myself presentable, before I started to study. It's mainly this friggin political system with all different governmental bodies that makes me crazy. It's boring and uninteresting and I really had to force myself to remember how many members each body has.

And what I had forgotten was that my neighbour is a real nerd. He thrives on history and wanted to make sure that I understood all the background to the simplified version in my broschure. Which I wasn't too interested in. I was more looking to pass the test.

So two and a half hours later we were done. If I don't pass the test now, it isn't for lack of trying! I just have to filter out all the "unnecessary" information.