Who's listening in?

BK and I typically take Sundays pretty easy. All of his work weeks are busy and the days are long, so we try to relax on the weekends. Occasionally Sunday will be a travel day for us when we're heading back from whatever destination we last visited.

The one thing that we almost always do on Sundays is listen to church. As a kid growing up at University Christian Church, I used to wonder who in the world would want to listen to church on the radio. Ick…how much more boring could you get?

I'm sure I probably partially thought this because I loved seeing all of my friends at church, attending Sunday school with them, sitting together in church, then all heading out for lunch afterward. Strangely enough, I have no recollection of where my parents sat during the service because I'm not sure I ever sat with them.

The other part of it is probably me picturing having to listen to some sort of televangelist on the radio or something. That is not at all what would have come across the airwaves, but after many years of hearing and seeing my grandmother watch whoever was on the religious channel on TV, I knew I wanted no part of that. To me that said, hell and damnation, and give us all of your money. Like I said, not what would have come through on KTCU, but still.

Now, on the other hand, things have completely changed for me (as should be expected being a grown up and all). Every Sunday at 6pm Basel time BK and I tune in online. They have the bulletin posted online as well so that we know what's going on in the service. Having been a member there the majority of my life, I typically know who the Elders are, recognize whose kid is acolyting and despite my years away from the church could probably recite to you exactly what order the service will go.

Of course I enjoy listening in to Larry preach, as well as hearing about news throughout the church, including who has recently gotten married, had a baby or lost a loved one- especially right now when lots of people that I grew up with at church are returning to the church, getting married and having kids.

More than anything though, I think that I love that it makes me feel connected to UCC and Fort Worth for that hour. I love that I know that my parents and sisters are sitting on the lectern side, about a third of the way back, listening to exactly what I'm hearing in that moment. And that just a couple hours earlier my mom sat on the pulpit side a little closer up and experienced the same service. It makes the distance between us not seem so far and is something we can do together even though BK and I are an ocean away from them.

So who's listening in? There's obviously a reason they've been doing it all these years, as I'm sure people near and far return home to UCC for that hour each week and listen in. I'm just thankful that it's something we can do while we're in Basel to make us feel not quite so far away from home.

Why is it so easy to be healthy here?

So I've been thinking about this and discussing it some with BK, but I keep asking myself why it is so much easier for me to be healthier in Switzerland than it is in the US? I think a lot of things play into it, and there's not just one specific thing that does it, but it's crazy to me just how different our activity level and food consumption is the minute we get back over here.

Like I said, I think many things play into this. Why is it that my convenient snacks here are much more likely to be an apple, a pear, some grapes or a clementine that I can just throw in my bag on the way to school? As opposed to the granola bar, prepackaged bag of crackers, or other random thing that I used to eat in the US. Is it because it's hard to peel fruit in the car when I'm on the go and seems to be easier when I'm walking along here? Not sure, but that seems pretty weak.

Maybe I'm more aware of what I have here because food is more expensive, so it pains me much more to waste, not to mention that even the trash bags are expensive, so we try not to produce nearly as much trash as we did in the US.

Another thing that you notice right away over here is that fast food and convenience food is expensive, so it makes you seek out other alternatives if you can't eat at home. A six-piece nugget at McDonald's will run you around $12. For that (and probably cheaper) I can easily go next door the "to-go" part of the grocery store and get a sandwich with a piece of fruit and a drink. Even the convenience stores are different- they're not full of prepackaged food or a million choices of candy and chips. For one, they typically all have a fruit stand out front, but have mostly things you might need after the grocery store closes such as dairy products, some breads, and fruits and veggies.

Are we healthier here because our food is fresher? Swiss people would rather pay more for a Swiss product than pay less for a product from really far away. The grocery chains do a lot of advertising around "From the region, for the region." I know I've mentioned that I haven't had berries in quite a while, but they are not out in the grocery store, and I'm honestly not sure when they come back into season.

Obviously our activity level factors into things as well. I write this post after returning from a walk with the dogs that was nearly five miles, and took us a little more than an hour. On a Saturday morning in the US, I would have never woken up on a Saturday morning and thought to myself, "Let's go for a five mile walk." Not sure why, but I'm sure I would have wanted to relax with BK after a hard week at work.

For us, and many people who live in Basel, a car is almost an inconvenience. You have to pay more at your apartment for a parking spot, you pay to park anywhere in the city that you're going, often where you park is far away from where you're going to run errands, you're legally required to have two sets of tires (summer and winter), and the list goes on. In fact, because of all the one way streets here, it typically takes longer to get somewhere in a car than it ever would via public transportation.

And even though I do use the buses and trams at least once a day, it still requires a walk to the bus or tram stop. My dad was asking BK how he would get to work if it got really cold, as in, could he take a tram? He could, but ultimately because of where we live, it would be out of the way to catch a tram. So the answer is, suck it up, bundle up well, and walk to work like he does every other day.

Interestingly enough, I recently ran across an HBO documentary about the obesity epidemic in the US called Weight of the Nation.  It's a multiple part series that looks at the various ways obesity is impacting the US, and after pondering this Swiss versus US thing it was interesting to watch. Maybe BK and I are healthier here, because the US has essentially engineered its way to unhealthiness. Everything the US does is based on convenience, not necessarily what's actually good for you. How fast can the US mass produce this thing and make sure that everyone stays busy, busy, busy?

I'm not really looking for an answer, nor do I think I've found some new key to it. It's the old eat healthier and be more active. Nothing too earth shattering about it, but it seems so much harder to do in the US for some reason. Hopefully we'll stay mindful of this and it will be a lifestyle change that stays with BK and I long after we return to the US.

Update on Baby K and getting the fur children ready for her

Today was more than just about getting the buddies ready for Baby K's arrival. We were back at it this morning around 6:30, walking for an hour, then I headed to day two of German class. Class is fun, and way less intense than this summer. The teacher did give us more homework than on Tuesday, but we do have the entire weekend to get things done.

Now, on to the exciting part of the day…the doctor appointment and trainer appointment. This appointment was just a routine monthly appointment, and everything looked good. We're 30 weeks along today and only have 70 days to go until the due date! I am literally the worst at taking my own weekly pics, but when BK is out of town I don't really have a choice. I took another one this morning, but my sisters seem to think this one shows progress a little better.

30 weeks along!

The doctor was really happy with all of my vitals and weight gain and also did not seem as concerned about Baby K being really big, as her growth has slowed down a bit since the last checkup. BK and I were both around seven pounds, which is what I'm hoping for. She weighs about 3lbs 10oz right now and is extremely active. Baby K did finally cooperate and we got a 3D picture of her face this time. Most of the time she has her hands by her face so that you can never get a good picture.

Baby K's face

BK and I will start going to the doctor more often now, and in a couple of weeks have a joint appointment with a doctor at the hospital where Baby K will be delivered. I'm also supposed to register with the hospital in the next week or so, so that we're ready when it happens.

Now, on to our other children…

Today I had a new trainer come to the apartment so that we could continue to work on a few things with the boys. As expected, Tanner pretty much went crazy when she came over, which is pretty much par for the course. She helped with ways to reward him the second he stops barking and giving the behavior that is wanted, but it is really hard to ignore a barking dog! One thing I'm supposed to also do is to leash him in the apartment so that when people come over he can be leashed and know that he's with us and it's okay- no reason to be stressed.

Throughout this next week I'm supposed to continue to reward them, both in the apartment and on walks when they behave well. I'm also working on assessing their behavior by writing down some things for her, such as how they act with adults, how they act with children, do they have issues sharing, how do they react when they don't get what they want, and a few other areas.

Being rewarded for good behavior while on the phone

The primary reason I asked her to come work with us was to help me get them prepared for the arrival of Baby K. So over the next few weeks we'll be working on that as well. One of the first things I have to do is bring her stroller up into the apartment and set it up. They need to get used to it, then we'll start moving it around, then we'll walk in the apartment with the stroller, and then finally try it out outside. They have to behave as if the baby was already there; they won' t be allowed to jump inside and roll around in the bassinet or anything like that.

She also wants to work on recall with them so that if they're off the leash (in the park or somewhere like that) they immediately respond and come back to what we want them to do. This will also help when interacting with other dogs while on walks as well. I also have a book to read that is on calming signals for your dog.

All the learning wore them out

On the bright side, she did think that we had a good foundation in place and were practicing many good habits with them. We're meeting again next week to work on more. We have lots of work to do in the next 10 weeks before Baby K arrives!