Great Escapes

I was walking back from the grocery store and heard an inordinate amount of howling coming from our apartment building.  As I got right beneath our apartment I realized that it was not coming from OUR apartment (phew) but from the apartment building next door.  I walked into our apartment, put the groceries down and when I looked in the living room, Pongo was "absent".  Panic immediately set in and when I looked on the back patio, this is what I saw. . . . the remnants of our tomato plant and NO DOG. 

I immediately called Kirt as I was racing out the door as I was still hearing the howling.  As soon as I got out the front door, I located Pongo inside the fenced area where he landed after jumping off the back deck.  He launched about 10 feet off of the deck but didn't try to get out of the fenced in area.  Although anxious, whining and clearly aware that he had done the wrong thing, he is still with us and seemingly uninjured.  Let's just say we don't offer him unsupervised access to the back deck at this point.  This happened the day before we officially "registered" him as a Swiss dog which is supposed to be done within 10 days of entering the country.

Kirt and I managed to escape to Annecy France for a weekend getaway.  Annecy is a quaint little town located in the foothills of the Alps on a beautiful Lake. We took the train to Geneva where we were to transfer to a bus for the final leg of the trip.  Things weren't so clear when we got to Geneva and began searching for our bus.  Luckily I spotted these teenagers whose job it was to steer us in the right direction!! How perfect is that?

Once in Annecy I realized that I had left my rain jacket on the bus (oops) and I stayed with our suitcases while Kirt made a valiant attempt to get my jacket back, unfortunately to no avail.

In Annecy we toured a very old prison, enjoyed the old town area and I loved all of the beautiful flower boxes.

Saturday morning we took a 9:00 bus up into the Alps and got out at Semnoz, a ski area.  We had no map and no real plans other than to take a nice hike so off we went.  We had hoped to get a view of Mont Blanc but that never happened as it was quite foggy and cloud ridden most of the day.

 We entertained ourselves by ending up in a field of bulls with no real clear escape.  But we were drawn there by this spectacular view of the valley below.

PHEW, Safely on the other side of THAT fence!!

We had a quiet lunch in a farmers field (no we weren't trespassing) and I climbed a lift tower.  You know what they say, "do something that scares you every day!"

Look Closely, I'm waving from the top :)

The hiking was a lot of fun as we just meandered on work roads at the ski areas, followed signs into farmers fields and took in the vastness of the trail system.  There were hundreds of cows grazing, each numbered and wearing a noisy bell on an elaborate leather collar.  Meet 8920.

We had a little snack at the restaurant at the top while waiting for the bus back to Annecy.  Soon after  boarding we made a stop at what we all know as the alpine slide.  And look at what we have here. . .  a bachelor party!! The groom to be is in the "swiss casket painted like a cow".  We saw the party in Annecy later in the evening. They seemed to be enjoying themselves.  

Groom boards the bus in casket!

So to finish the Annecy story.. . .  I had our hotel in Annecy call the lost and found at the bus company to see if someone had turned in my jacket (yea right) but they weren't able to get through.  We went a few minutes early on Monday to the bus station so that I could check in at lost and found just to satisfy myself, no jacket.  We boarded our bus to go back to Geneva and guess what?  My jacket was exactly where I'd left it in the overhead rack.  YAY!! 

So back at home in Basel, Kirt has been commuting by bicycle to work, it takes him about 30 minutes.

 We have a private blackberry patch that we've discovered where we pick berries regularly.

We were invited to a Sunday brunch by some people we met while walking Pongo.  The story goes that this man hated dogs.  He walked everyday along the Birs river which is where we walk Pongo.  After 15 years he finally decided that dogs were not going away so he started to be friends with the dogs and the owners.  He created a club (seriously) and they socialize a couple of times a year.

Kirt walking Pongo along the Birs River.

Dog Brunch on a rainy Sunday under the bridge along the Birs!

We usually go into Basel on the weekends and last time really enjoyed this German musician playing a Didgeridoo (Australian) and a Hang (Swiss).  The Hang we had never heard of before and it appeared like a pod made out of symbols with dimples in it.  We really enjoyed his music and we purchased a CD.

I must give an honorable mention to my brave nephew Max.  He was walloped in the cranium by his cousin with a golf club.  Clearly an accident.  But it did manage to fracture his skull and require emergency reconstruction at his local trauma unit.  He has over 100 stitches (and proud of that number I might add) and is doing very well.  This picture was taken Friday, one week after the incident.

Looking forward to September 1 when we will move into our "permanent" apartment.  Our new address is: 

Eichgasse 2A

4105 Biel-Benken

Switzerland

July 9 and Slowly Adjusting

I thought I'd be more diligent about my entries but obviously I haven't been.  Every little thing, including walking Pongo, takes so much time to accomplish that there never seems to be enough time in the day.  This is primarily due to the language barrier and my German hasn't gotten any better.  I have a consultation with the school where I will take my German lessons next week so am eager to get some information on my start date.  It is clearly vacation time here so it may be September before I can really get started.  Since you all understand English and before I forget everything that has happened, I'll put it down here.

Figured out that online banking is very secure here.  It takes SEVEN pieces of information to actually login to online banking.  So much for my birthdate pin code which was really easy to remember.

Now I need an efinance account number, efinance password, efinance user id, efinance PIN, ATM PIN, a battery operated gadget that my ATM card goes into and spits out a different number every time I log in, was that seven?  And on this note, I received some sort of certified mail slip in the mail but the next day the post lady delivered certified mail. This was our residence cards that we were billed 300 CHF for.  I tried to give her the slips but she said she didn't need them and had me sign. . .I (incorrectly) assumed that I no longer needed the slips so tore them up and only when I tried to login to our online banking did I realize that there was YET another secret code coming.  I dug the pieces out of the trash, (put them together like a puzzle) great for a recreation major, haven't done that in years and showed up at the post office trying to get our FINAL passwords.  The look on the post lady's face was priceless when she saw my taped puzzle of a certified mail slip.  Good thing I took Kirt's passport as there was no way I was getting his envelope without it :)

First big excitement in our (temporary) neighborhood was the Iron Maiden and Pink Floyd Concert.  Unfortunately we were unable to obtain tickets. Our tram stop is normally SPOTLESS and here is a picture of the morning after.

By Noon, it was once again spotless, gotta love the Swiss.

I traveled to Germany to visit the Hilton's.  Jackie was my hairdresser in CA and her husband is Chris Hilton that works for SRAM, a bicycle components company.  Kate is 7 and Shane is 9 and they live in an apartment in a GREAT, old castle.  I enjoyed my weekend.

Kate KelLe and Shane

 

Kirt has been working long days and enjoyed his trip to Spain.  He has project assignments in Turkey, Serbia, Macedonia and France as well.  Still on a steep learning curve but he figures out something new nearly every day.  

Other upcoming work related activities include application for a second passport at the US Embassy in Bern.  Some countries require a visa in order to enter the country, which requires submittal of your passport for several weeks.  Since the passport is also needed for current travel, a second passport book is often required.  It also helps in segregating which stamps are in which book.  Many of the countries that he will have to travel to do not "get along" with some of the other countries.  So it helps to avoid problems at passport control stations if the "wrong" stamps are in the other passport.  

Pongo continues to be very good off-leash at our green space walking areas.  Its typically the small dogs that exhibit aggressive behavior ... Napolean complex.  The tennis ball is one of his favorites now and if his timing and the throw are just right, he leaps into the air to catch it.  Not bad for a dog who will turn 11 next month.  

He continues to think he is entitled to sleep on the couch when we aren't around, so I've added a sheet to the couch to collect all his hairs.  He has been caught on numerous occasions with one front paw on the couch as we make our way to the front door. 

Pongo lounges on couch when we're not home - don't tell the landlord!

He goes everywhere with me, he can't come inside the grocery store but there are dog "clips" outside each store where I can clip him in while I shop.

The yellow "poop" bags are provided by the city; here he is while I grocery shop!

 

We have one tomato plant, basil and some cilantro growing.  I am really glad I brought along cilantro seeds which are coming up nicely as I haven't seen cilantro and there is NO FRESH salsa. We can get Pancho Villa's and Old El Paso in a jar, which .........there are children reading this blog so I need not describe the flavor. 

We think we've found an apartment but it is not available until September 1. Need to confirm that this week.  Ciao for now! 

Pongo Makes It Through Customs!!

Well, it is Day 19 and we're still here.  First a word about our Blog's name.  Kirt's sixth (maybe seventh) cousin, Paul Henning was THE producer of the Beverly Hillbillies, Petticoat Junction and Green Acres.  It just seemed right since we were thrust from our 21 acres in Vermont into Basel city life in a matter of seven hours and fifteen minutes on Swiss Air that we somehow incorporate the two.  So there you have it.

Since everyone seems more concerned about Pongo than us, I'll update you on him first.  After three vet appointments, one chip installation, one feces sample, two notarized forms, one rabies shot and a $400 plane ticket, Pongo was ready to go.  The vet did not recommend any sort of a sedative for him so instead we used what our dear friend (thanks Jackie Hilton) had sent us, some natural DAP, Dog Appeasing Pheromone.  This we sprayed in his kennel prior to the trip. Kirt took him on one nice long last run in the open fields of Hampshire Hollow prior to our drive to Boston and was able to walk him at Boston's Logan Airport as well.  Then we checked him in with our baggage which was great (for us).  When we arrived at baggage claim in Zurich, he was already there along with, hallelujah! all of our luggage.

Kirt convincing Pongo to "Get In"

Ready to Check In at Logan

Next we had to clear customs which involved an inspection of Pongo and his paperwork by a Swiss Veterinarian.  I probably spent a total of fifteen hours on phone calls,  paperwork and vet appointments to ensure that we had everything in order. In the paperwork they clearly tell you that if you don't have everything needed, they will quarantine your dog and put it "down" in ten days if you aren't able to sort things out.  Needless to say, I was motivated to have everything in order.  Much to my amazement, the Vet never looked at Pongo but his assistant did read his chip. He "glanced" at the paperwork, swiftly collected our 88 Swiss Francs (US$104.32), officially stamped (this theme will repeat itself) the paperwork and sent us out the door.  Great, all we wanted was to get him in.

Our relocation agent Hanna Biedermann was there to collect us and Kirt gave Pongo a quick walk in the parking structure before the hour or so drive from Zurich to Basel. So we landed at Lehenmattstrasse 332, 4052 Basel, Switzerland (that's the mailing address) right on schedule.
 ,
Kirt's Birthday came and went on June 13, impressive that he can still blow 39 candles out in one breath!

 

Kirt is pleasantly challenged with his new position designing versus optimizing.  He has traveled to France twice and leaves for Spain on Monday for three days.  Russia to follow in July. We've registered ourselves, gotten a bank account and made an attempt at our personal liability insurance, however, the offer and terms came in German. . .such is life as we know it today.

I have been busy grant writing, walking Pongo, grocery shopping and recycling (both take on a new meaning on foot) and walking Pongo.  And then there is walking Pongo and the apartment hunting.  We're eager to see one on Friday in the most rural area we've found :)   Details in the next post!