Random musings today

I can't decide if I think living abroad would be an introvert's worst nightmare or dream come true. For the record, I'm not an introvert, which is sort of why I pose the question. It seems like being an expat, and especially a trailing spouse, you have to be an extrovert. I've spent most of my day today networking and finding new groups to be a part of. It feels like I've spent my day saying, "Will you please be my friend?!?!"

I'm sure if you have a job or children in school, this might not be so hard, but when I'm at home with Baby K, I could seriously go all day and only have contact with her and BK. It just seems a little hermit-like to me. And I'm sure I'm overwhelming to BK some nights when I need to get all my words out for the day and they rain down on him. I have been told before that I don't need to take 40 minutes to explain something that happened in 10.

***

Related to this, part of the reason I've been doing this is so I know when things happen. I'm so not good at being spontaneous. So when I see a message come across that there is a meet up or something that I didn't know about, I have a hard time fitting it into my day because I hadn't really planned for it. Boring and somewhat inflexible, I know.

BK even unexpectedly left me the car one day last week, and I didn't really put it to use. When I get the car during the week I like to be prepared to go to the store and get bulky stuff, run to places that are not so convenient by train and other random stuff, but if I don't even know what might be on my list I struggle to get out of what I had planned in my head of how the day would go. Yes I know, it's a little ridiculous.

I have the car tomorrow, but don't worry I have both my grocery list and the list of other random stuff that I want to get done ready to go and have sort of mapped out how Baby K and my day will go.

***

French is not coming back to me quite as quickly as I had hoped, but I'm still excited to get to use it. I met with a French school today about enrolling in class, and as soon as I have Baby K situated I can get started.

I am very excited about getting back into language class. I'm also excited to speak English and French to Baby K as she starts to develop language skills. She will get it while she's in creche (nursery) as well, but I'm excited about the possibility of reading children's books and doing other activities with her in French.

And to think...everyone said taking French in Texas was useless! Little did they know!

A new set of wheels

Well, we took the plunge here in Switzerland and bought a car. It was no easy feat, with about a three month processing time after we ordered the car and all kinds of financial what-not involved, but we are now the proud owners of a new Volvo.

Now, if you know BK well, you may be thinking that never in a million years would you see him own a Volvo; it's just so sensible. I never thought I would see the day either. And plenty of the guys at work have given him such a hard time about this purchase.

But in the end, practicality outweighed everything else. Volvo has a special deal for expats, making purchasing a Volvo more attractive than other cars in Switzerland. Cars are very expensive here in general, so any break you can get is beneficial. The primary thing it's being used for is for BK to commute to work, so it needed to get good gas mileage and to be safe. Don't worry though, I think he added every possible feature available. He hasn't completely lost touch with his old self.

I kept the car last Friday so I could do some running around, including getting some bigger items that are not so easily handled with Baby K in tow, either in the stroller or being carried on me. BK was eager to hear what I thought about it and how it went. I really like the car, and it has all kinds of great features, but the best one for me is probably the parking sensors.

I say the parking sensors because parking is not my best skill in life. In my past two cars I never had a fender bender, but I did have some unfortunate run-ins with our garage. The bumpers nearly always had a black scrape on them from me coming and going out of the garage. In my defense, we did have a garage that had two separate doors, and since I had the smaller car I had to use the one that required a bit of a turn to get in.

Here's how our new car fits in the garage.

Okay, so it doesn't look like such a tight fit here, but I swear I feel like I have to hold my breath while I'm pulling in. I also told BK that the parking sensors don't really help in this situation because it's just one constant beep at me when I'm parking. He laughed at this and let me know that they did not do that when he was parking. Let's just say we apparently have different methods. I try my hardest to let BK drive as much as possible, and you better believe I won't be parking with him in the car. No one wins in that situation, trust me.

So we're off and running! It has been kind of fun to have a car on the weekends so that we can explore around the area and up and down the mountain. If you come visit us we might even come pick you up from the airport too.

Is winter on the way?

Just after I posted about the amazing weather last weekend, winter seems to have said hello to us. Yesterday is was cold and rainy. Today is was beautiful and sunny, but still cold, with a high around 50.

Yesterday Baby K, the dogs and I went out for a walk, but I apparently did not pay close enough attention to the weather. When we were nearly back home we got caught in out in the sleet! I totally did not expect that! Before that on our walk we wandered through Montreux old town, up and down windy cobblestone streets, just to see what we could find.

All bundled up!

Church on the way up

Old Town

Old Town

Blurry, but it's the only way I could get the sleet on Tobs

There is snow on the mountains now!

Baby K stays warm in her slippers

Today the sun was out again, but it was still cold. We did get out and enjoy the "fresh" weather and had lunch with BK at a local Tea Room. It was nice, but pretty chilly!

Not sure how she feels about the cold weather

It looks like the weekend will be sunny, but still on the cool side. I'm sure we'll be up and out exploring, but as always, home to watch Frog football!