Thanksgiving in Z

Tree in Zurich City Center (Filled with Carolers!) 

This past weekend we celebrated one of my favorite US holidays in Zurich with Ashley, Mike and 20+ of their best friends. Although cleaning the apartment and cooking two birds, 5 sides and 3 pies for a large crowd is crazy stressful, it was a success! I could not believe how much food we had leftover! We could have gotten away with one bird, the basic sides of mashed potatoes and stuffing and 2 pies. Even then, there would have still been massive leftovers!

The scene was set perfectly: 

Football and beers/wine pre-dinner- Check! 

The Yule Log playing as soon as the game ended- Check! 

Then, Ashley said grace and gave thanks before the meal and I think everyone got a fairly good impression of a US Thanksgiving.

One guest, in particular, celebrating his first Thanksgiving, OD'ed on turkey. I have never seen one person eat so much of the bird. He didn't realize there was more of the meal coming and the look he gave when we told him that the pumpkin and apple pie were being served next was priceless. The rest of the night, he along with several other guests were in a food coma. Ah, just as it should be :) 

Of course, a Thanksgiving celebration is never complete without a little celebration of Mike. As his birthday is always just right around the corner from T-day, we made sure he was not forgotten. Ashley passed out sparklers and then we brought out a cake to a room singing Happy Birthday!

I still cannot believe Ashley put on her 3rd Thanksgiving here, especially one week before her and Mike are moving up to Basel. They will probably forget how unprepared they are for their move in a few months, but they will never forget their Thanksgiving feast. I know those 20-odd guests, won't! 

Busy Busy

Things have been extremely busy over here on Rue des Vieux-Grenadiers. With unpacking and settling into the new apartment, Nicholas traveling to Singapore for work, having visitors and working on a project for my dad- there is not a dull moment, or much time for me to blog :(

While trying to finish this project for dad, I decided to take a 20 minute break to give my head a rest from translating. My break consisted of cleaning up the dishes and organizing the kitchen, as that was where I was working. I noticed that I never took the clothes out of the washing machine from yesterday when I arrived home from yoga, so I decided that I should hang them to dry, as well.

**Small fact you must know before I continue- our adorable, European washing machine doesn't always complete a cycle... sometimes it decides to finish right before draining the water and doing the final spin. Lucky me. I discovered this once before and have been good about checking to see where the cycle is and whether or not there is excess water hanging out in the machine.**

This morning, it slipped my mind to check. I was focused on getting as much done as possible before I got back to work... Rushing is never a good thing. When I opened the washer door, water gushed out all over our kitchen and I was standing in two inches of day old water... ewwwww...

Funny thing is, this morning I had looked at the kitchen floor and thought that it needed to be washed. Lets just say the floor is now sparkling :)

And, my 20 min break turned into an hour and 20 min break... Back to work and more to come soon!

It's official

We are now left-bankers in Geneva. Although our apartment is still covered in boxes and not close to being arranged, it is so nice to have our own place and to have Nicholas so close to work!

So far so good!