Shock

Oh my, my adrenalin is still running hot in my veins. After leaving the cats alone the whole day, I came home and let them out on the balcony as I usually do. And normally they would enjoy the fresh air, come in and check on me once in a while and tell me if they're hungry or just want attention.

Now and then I check on them, just making sure I know what they're at. But tonight I could only find one of them, trekking to and fro on the balcony acting weirdly. I looked down, and saw the other one (Zetti, the least adventourous one!) on the terrace below, just lying there. Oh the worry!

So I ran down the stairs (clad in nightgear), frantically ringing the neighbours door at half past eleven, hearing a rustle inside, and a voice asking who it was. Finally they let me in, and I could catch her. Luckily, since she's the elusive type.

I feel really bad for waking the neighbours up, but even better that my Zetti is back. And not hurt. She seems to be her old self, thinking what all the fuss is about.

Now comes the difficult part. I will keep them indoors for a couple of days, which will be difficult in itself, since already the other one is loudly demanding me to open the balcony door, but eventually I will have to let them out again. If they continue to jump down, I will have to consider letting them out on a permanent basis. Oh the worry!

Me and wine and friends

Went hiking today. Far away from Zürich. Well, almost half an hour with the train anyway (milk train, the fast direct train is maybe 15 mins). Was visiting a friend, bringing if not gold, frankincense and myrrh, so at least wine. My house wine. A woman having a small kid cannot be trusted to have wine at home. She did. I guess she knows me.

And to my surprise she had made a tasty lunch, what with being a vegetarian and all. A spinach-ricotta-feta-cheese-pie with salad and even a dessert with apricots and cream.

Then we went for a walk, and she was kind enough to ask "you don't mind walking up a hill do you?". Hmm, polite as I am (yeah, I know) I actually didn't mind even though she was walking far faster than I, while pushing the kid. But there you go, there is something to be said for youth I guess. And before you comment, yes smoking.

But it was nice, a great view and while the kid was in the playground I connected with some donkeys. Donkeys are interesting animals, they can get almost as old as a human.

We visited a park that was donated by the founder of Migros, a big food chain here in Switzerland, back in the 40-50's not sure. He stated that the park should be accessible for all people in Rüschlikon (village outside Zürich). Nice of him.

They even had a house with a roof from Bern, which I learned when visiting Ballenberg.

But back to the wine. So once I got rid of the bottle, coming back to Zürich, I went to see a friend in my fav place. Who had bought me another bottle as a late present for my b-day. Nice!

I ended the day by having dinner with a friend in Zürich, who also had bought me something...drum roll...and here you were all wrong. He got me flowers :), purple of course. But he did feed me including a glass of wine.

And when I got back after almost 10 hours the cats were very happy to see me. I should do this more often!

Fancy restaurant

Am watching a cooking show, which made me think of the time I was in Rome many, many years ago. 'Cause one of the judges in the show features in this.

My friend who I travelled with had a friend who knew some people, and there was a party, and of course we were invited. There were we, innocent tourists (and back then gorgeous blondes:), invited to the high-flyers in Rome. I remember a fancy home with cushions to sit on in a big living room. I also remember somebody asking me "do you smoke?", and I, naive as I was, said "yes, would you like one?", offering a cigarette. Only later I realized they didn't refer to tobacco only.

Was talking to this guy, who mentioned that his uncle had a restaurant in my home country. Immediately I thought oh yes, probably a pizzeria in a suburb somewhere. Turned out his relative was the manager of probably the most famous restaurant back home.

And now I'm watching this relative of his being a judge in a cooking show. I wonder what happened to the "smoking" guy?

Kebab

I'm a sucker for kebab, but there are kebab's and kebab's and I still have to find a good place to buy it. Nevertheless, after having donated half a liter of blood today, I thought I give myself a treat and so went to the place I always go to. I really have to stop. Since the change of owners, they have degraded into a cheapo place. I'm not talking about money, but the way they prepare it.

Four hours later I could still feel the raw onion taste in my mouth. Not good.

But luckily enough I was invited to the neighbours tonight, for a good glass of wine. Or two. Thing is I cannot stay there very long, with their two kids being around and very loud. But cunning as I am, I go for a smoke now and then, and being a friendly couple, one of them always comes with me. Then a real conversation can take place, not involving children.

Anyway, they are going away for some time on holiday, and I have to feed their killing fish. The fish that kills anything else coming into the aquarium. I'm thinking to introduce "it" (fish still doesn't have a name, even though one kid said "Wanda") to my cats. There's a thought!

Vtx

Some time ago Orange sent me a letter, informing me that a company called vtx had taken over the internet connection that I pay for. Ok, so vtx had always been the provider, but through Orange, and Orange sent me the bill. Now all of a sudden I get bills from two providers, one from vtx for the connection and one from Orange for the mobile phone consumption.

Irritating, but nothing I cannot live with. Except for that vtx insists on sending me information in French! I mean, it's annoying enough to get it in German, but in French?

And if that wasn't enough, now they're telling me they gonna shut off my internet connection for a whopping 8 hours on Tuesday! What is the world coming to?

I better see a discount on my next bill!

Vandalism

Friggin vandals! Our house has been attacked. These people should be rolled in tar and feathers, and be forced to walk around the city wearing a sign around their neck saying "I'm a vandal, I damage other peoples houses"!

Alt for Norge

Haha, this is a funny show about Americans who are coming to Norway to find their roots. 90% of it is in English, the rest is easily understood.

First episode you'll find here, where you will learn about the strange habits of the Norwegians.

Dinner in alcoholic sauce

Was invited to friends tonight for a late b-day dinner. And I brought a friend, who they hadn't met before. It's always interesting to see how new people interact with each other.

But as expected it all went fine, and they got along well together. Some old stories, some new stories and all in all a very pleasant evening.

Dinner was delish with meat in an alco-sauce and baked rosmarin potatoes, just as I like it.

And pics will be added as soon as friend can be arsed to send them. Don't hold your breath, since this is a guy who responded to my long email with the words "I'll be there". Men!

On the other hand I am inclined to forgive him, since he brought a whole wagon filled with boxes of my fav wine. Men!

Can't live with them, can't shoot'm!

B-day

Had a couple of friends over for dinner tonight. Always nice. Except for that one of them called a few hours before ETA saying she couldn't make it. She has a kid, and somehow the partner wouldn't be there in time. What could I say other than trying to be sympathetic? Although I by no means meant it. Kids are a nuisance. Period.

Ok, I understand that people want to procreate (not really, but studies has shown that it is so, and who am I to say otherwise without any scientific reasons?), and here I forgot what the point I was trying to make was.

So my friend and I went on enjoying herring, salmon and whatsit to go with, obviously some wine and good conversation.

After a while, I was happy to receive a message that the cancellation was cancelled, and she, the mother, was coming after all. And bringing a cake! A cake she told me on the phone she made, and I didn't believe, but turned out to be delish.

And a cake that enters my place, stays in my place. Just so that you know.

Gossip

Haha, I gotta laugh. I live in a house with four flats, and a twin house above that kinda belongs with us. Six families. A small community.

Yesterday I got a visit from one of them, and in the course of the conversation was asked about my volunteering job. I guess it was because I asked this neighbour to print out the document my computer couldn't read, and they read it before delivering it to me. No big deal. I have no secrets.

And then today I was visited by another neighbour, who asked the same question. Rumours are flying around quickly in this house.

Turned out my volunteering maybe two Saturdays a month for like three hours each time has gone into working full-time in an old peoples home.

After four years they don't know me at all. Me working full-time for no money? HAHAHAHAHA.

Volunteering

This volunteering business got me thinking of when I was in the middle of my (paying) career. We had a meeting and the manager was talking about a project in Germany. "I need a volunteer, Annika?". "Yes", I said, responding to my name. "Ok", he said, "it's settled then. You're leaving Monday".

Ah ok. Turned out to be the most boring project I have ever done. They wanted to ensure quality in some documents, one of these business plan dittos that nobody ever reads and will rest safely on somebodys shelf for eternity. And ze Germans are very careful, very precise and went through every line of text with a loupe.

I had big problems hiding my frequent yawns, and my feeble attempts to speed up the process didn't go down well.

I cannot remember anything else from these maybe three days I spent there, but a safe assumption is I went out for a few drinks in the evening.

Cafe co-worker

Yes, it is a fast lane to get promoted from assistant to co-worker in my new business career. If I'm not careful I might be manager soon!

Today I got there early, 'cause I wanted to prepare everything myself to see if I remembered the stuff I was taught, and since my co-worker was late, I had the time to do just that.

It went fine, even though we had very few customers today. Maybe because the weather was fantastic, 21° and sunshine. But I worked with a woman who was nice and interesting, and we had a good conversation while waiting on existing customers and waiting for new ones.

And I have now properly learned which mugs are used for Ovomaltine and which ones for tea. Progress my friends.

Fishy

Had a friend over for dinner tonight. He's been ambivalent towards eating fish "I don't like when it smells like fish". Huh?

So thought I had to convince him, it's nothing like converting people to my beliefs.

It didn't start out great when serving the dish. "What is that green thingy?". "Parsley" I responded, saying that also dill would work. "I like dill a lot" he said. Fantastic. Thinking there is a lot to be said for politeness.

But after him finishing two full plates of the dish, I think I can conclude that he did like it after all.

Another convert to Annika's temple of food.

System restore

Sometimes I just hate technology. A while ago I couldn't open any of my files, like Excel or Word, but didn't think much about it, since I seldom need to. Today I got a file sent to me, and all of a sudden it presented a problem.

Talked to my guru who this time couldn't help me. Did system restore. Twice. Didn't help.

The issue is that when I try to open a file the friggin computer gives me three choices like buy new licenses, activate your current ones and something I cannot remember. I mean, who keeps a "key" to activate, probably consisting of some 30 letters and numbers for years? I don't.

And last time I tried to contact Dell I ended up talking to both England and South Africa. I know, it's Microsoft who administers the Office programs, but I don't expect them to be any better on customer service. But I'm also too cheap to buy licenses that I already paid for.

Catch 22?

Chartreuse

Haha, I was just talking a friend and had to laugh when she mentioned chartreuse. She has bought some chairs in that colour, but I have a completely different memory of that.

It's a liquor, that I once got extremely drunk on. Haven't touched the stuff since.

Take the money and run

I have to admit I'm a little bit addicted to watching various seasons of the biggest loser. I think it's the challenges they are up for, the thought process and finally the transformation of their bodies that catch me.

But today when watching one episode where two participants were offered to trade 10K dollars for a pound, which is a little bit less than half a kg, at the weekly weigh-in, I was screaming at the screen "take the friggin money and run"! The woman did, the man didn't. Just goes to show.

And it reminded me of when I got options in my company. Half-time through the given period, we were given the choice of cashing 50% of it in or wait until the end time. I cashed it in. And as luck would have it, I lived in another country than when the options were issued and so the cheque breezed through, without passing go. Or the evil payroll system.

At the end time of the options the company no longer had the cash to pay anything.

Conclusion: take the money and run.

Walking on sunshine

Yes, that's what it felt like today. Amazing, middle of October and "Walking on sunshine".

And this only 10 minutes with the bus from where I live. Green land, farms and fields. Yes, it's nice to visit.

Twice in one week

Today I went to Ikea again, but a different one, one I hadn't been to before. And I beat my own record, shopped for a whopping 3.80 francs! Four flower pots. Guess the colour.

Yeah ok, some herring and candy in the food shop too, I do admit.

But this time a friend was splashing out. One table and six chairs. Good thing I don't have to assemble it.

And amazingly enough the restaurant was almost full, at 7pm on a Friday evening. Don't people have anything better to do?

Ignore the kid

I met with a kid today, and really, I don't get the point. They cannot walk, not speak, they scream and yet demands attention at all times. Plus if you leave them alone for one second, they break something.

This particular one was screaming while sitting next to me in the back seat of a car (yes, I was denied the front seat since it was full of baby paraphernalia), and screaming, tears running. I ignored. And whaddayaknow, a few minutes later she stopped. I bet it was because I ignored her, and didn't care. I knew she was fed and changed, and didn't have a reason whatsoever to scream.

Later I thought what the hell, let's give it a go, so that I can at least seem to be half-interested (and after having a song-book shoved in my face by the mother), I decided to teach her some songs including the appropriate movements. But I gotta tell you, itsy bitsy spider doesn't do it for me anymore.

Nah, I'll wait until she grows up. Then I'll teach her a thing or two. She already seemed to be interested in my cig pack and my glass of wine. There's hope yet.

Sponge fingers

I have some crazy friends, but the other day it was explained why for one of them. Her Mum, who I met while visiting Zürich, sent me cookies all the way from Australia. I mean, think about it, how crazy is not that?

But strangely enough they survived with all of them in one piece. And delish they are!

Everybody wins

Was in Ikea today. I'm guessing I wasn't their best customer. I bought two candles, one pack of napkins and two flower pots, all for 7 francs something. Was especially satisfied with the pots, purple of course. 95 rappen each. A bargain.

Ikea in Switzerland celebrates 40 years in the country and had sent an invitation, so I participated in the lottery "everybody wins", where the top price was 25K worth of Ikea stuff, and I won. A small blue plastic Ikea bag. Ah well, better than nothing I guess.

Mind you, I was spending a lot more in the "Schwedenshop", the shop where they sell food. But as somebody in the restaurant (yes had lunch there too) had left a voucher worth 2 francs, I nicked it and used it, it wasn't too bad for what I got.

So a friend of mine got to enjoy a Swedish dinner including lots of marinated herring tonight. Yum!

Ze Swiss strikes again!

I knew it!

Herr Müller

Haha, I just remembered today at the old peoples home. They have two cats. One of them is called Herr Müller, which is a funny name for a cat.

So when I was serving two older gentlemen, I said, "see, there is Mr Müller joining us", and they looked at me in a funny way. Then one of them said "I'm Mr Müller". Ah ok. Pregnant pause, and then we laughed.

Herr Müller turned out to be a panther, a big black gentle cat, who liked to be cuddled with.

Dinner, but not fish

Was invited to dinner at my neighbours today. They have gotten a new pet. A fish not yet called Wanda, in fact, not called anything, which I thought was a bit unkind. But it turned out the fish was a bit unfriendly, having eaten all the companions he was offered. Ah well, if you don't eat you get eaten or something like that.

While enjoying a nice grill dinner (meat) we chatted and I said to them: "You can never guess what I did today?". Him: "sports?". Haha, funny guy.

We also discussed which Eastern European country is the most corrupt, and I learned that the Polish just cheat a little, Hungary I knew already not working very hard or at all, that the Czech Republic is the most developed and to never go near Russia (I knew this already), and that the majority of the Bulgarians and Romanians still have outdoor toilets. It's like Ballenberg all over again!

All in all, as always an interesting evening. Plus the benefit of walking up the stairs and being home!

Cafe assistant

So today I began my new career, as a cafe assistant in an old peoples home. It was very interesting, with a lot of new impressions.

First I was introduced to the two others, where one was the obvious manager. She talked, guided me around, grabbed me by my arm to come with her and being bossy as few. But charming! When she told me she was 87 I nearly fell off my chair! I believe she had more energy than I.

Haha, to think that an 87-year-old is still working, and in an old peoples home where many are younger than her, is fabulous. And when she was sitting down, while I and the other one were working, she was knitting and told me she did it for needy people. Knitting, knitting, talking, talking, she was really a multi-tasking person. And 87 years old! I was impressed. But she was confessing to me that she's thinking of retiring soon. Yeah!

The work consisted of tending to a cafeteria with about eight tables indoors and a few outdoors, and with a limited menu. Coffee, tee, various soft drinks, beer and wine. Cake. The most ordered one was Ovomaltine, which is an E-nr chocolate powder drink mixed with hot milk. Hot milk we didn't have, so the alternative was with hot water only. One woman tried to order with hot milk three times, she had forgotten she tried before. So I smiled and each time explained to her that we didn't have hot milk. Was told somebody had decided that hot milk was off the menu. Why, I have no clue.

Another popular order was "Schale" or perhaps "Scharle", not sure. Apparently that is coffee with hot milk, and again, no milk, so we had to sell in normal coffee with those little plastic thingies containing something milk-like.

The coffee machine was a George Clooney-one with wee containers put in a machine. It doesn't smell like coffee, not like beans being grounded like my own machine at home. These small coffee containers come in different colours, but none of us in the service knew the difference between them and to be honest, I don't think anybody cared.

The machine took forever to produce one cup. But we did serve the coffee with both sugar and some sugar-like substitute, as well as "milk" and a tiny piece of chocolate. And for a very reasonable price.

It was actually more busy than I thought. Many of the people had visitors, and those came with so I must admit I was kept on my toes, trying to remember the orders ("one espresso, water in a glass on the side, one coffee with extra milk" and so forth). We were serving at the tables, and also clearing them off.

On the alcohol-side we had two orders today. One visitor wanted a beer, and one of the oldest-looking men ordered 1 dl of rose wine. I think I might have poored 1,5 for him :), glad to see that somebody still enjoyed a glass of something alcoholic.

And all of them gave a tip! Not that I will get any of that, but it's nice to feel appreciated.

At times it felt like being out in a pub, it was buzzing and everybody was talking seemingly enjoying themselves. All the while their walking gizmos were parked outside.

I really had a great time! And the 87-year-old dragged me into the toilet to get away from the people, showing me the grades she gave me ("but don't tell anyone I told you"). Top of the class my friends :), she even added adjectives. Ok, I was the only pupil but still.

Now I'm waiting for the official feedback, but I do expect I have qualified. This'll be fun!

Ballenberg XV

These mushrooms rendered a conversation about what we like to eat, and how I never would pick anything from nature that I wasn't sure of. These, I would most certainly leave to grow where they are. That said, I love mushrooms. Mushroom sauce, mushroom omelette, mushroom whatever. Yum!

Ballenberg XIV

They also had an interesting herb/flower/plant area where you could see the plant, smell it from a box and guess what it was. We managed about half, like thyme, lemon and other easy ones, but there were also growing thingies we never heard of.

But if you ask me the most interesting plant of them all were the tobacco plant! And beautiful it was too! Mental note to self: find out if it's legal to have a tobacco plant at home.

Ballenberg XIII

Toilets I'm guessing were not always indoors, but a few houses had them. This one was the most interesting. Dual shitting. A parent and a child.

I just wanna know what they used to dry themselves with? Grass? Since I'm thinking newspapers were not common back then. Or didn't they clean themselves at all? Yikes!

Ballenberg XII

So there were houses from all over Switzerland. All of them smelled bad, but what can one expect after being so old? But they were all pretty, and in original stand. Amazing when one thinks about it. This is how people lived. And not only in Switzerland, there were similar standards in other countries.

All wood, all very basic with a fireplace, some beds, the better ones with a living room. What is great though is that they took really good care of their animals. There were shelters, hay, and in some houses the cows, goats and sheep and other domestic animals were living on the ground floor, and the people upstairs. Close relationships. Not exactly privacy.

Some houses had straw roofs. Which when you think about it is very clever. Straws are hollow, and the water runs straight through the straws, yet being insulating.

Ballenberg XI

You gotta love this. A drain! But I seem to remember from my history lessons that the Romans invented aqueducts some 2,000 years ago, transporting water and getting rid of unwanted stuff. Mind you, looking at the situation in Naples today, where trash are stacked in droves on the streets, they may have forgotten. Personally I think it's the mafia after reading Roberto Savianos book Gomorrah.

Nevertheless, I find this drain amusing.

Ballenberg X

Vino. Now we're talking!

Ballenberg IX

Not sure about the story of these bells, but my chauffeur told me something about men walking around the streets wearing these and making a lot of noise. Me, I cannot think of any reason whatsoever doing that.

Ballenberg VIII

They have certainly chosen a good location for this collection of old houses, now called an open-air museum. And we managed to drive all the way from Zürich through fog and clouds, until about 2 km before Ballenberg. Then it opened up and I had to take my jacket off. Reckon it was about 25°C and sunhine the whole day.

Ballenberg VII

Cheese! They made their own cheese. Big buckets over an open fire. Don't ask me exactly how it was made, but I know they still make it. Hopefully they have learned to embrace some modern tools.

In a shop outside the area they made their own chocolate. Unfortunately there were little information about the production, only a shop with a wheel that went around and around. Between the kids covering the information sheets I manage to read that it takes between 48-72 hours to wheel the chocolate to perfection. And ok, the chocolate bar I bought was ok, but for the price I had expected more.

Ballenberg VI

Cooking took a long time back then. And the heating system were from a fireplace in the middle of the house, in the kitchen. Few houses had more than one.

Ballenberg V

People in the old days were short. At least I'm guessing so, since the beds were. And most of them had a little something built next to their bed to house the kids. Or they had a bed they had to climb into, and another bed underneath. I'm thinking there were little time for privacy, but that doesn't seem to have stopped them from well-you-know bonking.

I cannot help making the connection to nowadays. Back then there were no pensions, and in general our society seem to go back to the old days. Most people are getting poorer, and the pensions are soon but a memory.

And a horrid thought! Perhaps people will start to have more kids, 'cause they want somebody to care for them in old age?

Ballenberg IV

Waterworks. This particular one to get the mill going. It's amazing to think about how much work got into getting food in the old days. I mean, I go to Migros, Coop or Denner and immediately I have a dinner ready in no-time. Back then, they had to grow the crop, use the mill, then bake the things they wanted to eat. Like bread.

We also saw storage houses, where food were kept. The clever ones built it above ground, so that mice and rats wouldn't get to it, but imagine to eat something that were stored in autumn and had to be eaten in spring. No fresh veggies, no herbs. No wonder they died early!

Ballenberg III

There were craftsmen and women, who I guess try to protect the old way of producing useful things, or at least show us tourists how things worked in the past. I mean how many people nowadays know how to weave and make baskets?

Ballenberg II

Loadsa animals there were too. We saw geese, cows, pigs, horses, sheep, a donkey, chicken, rabbits, lizards (scuttling around the houses from Ticino - the Italian-speaking part of Switzerland and further south), goats and even a cat.