Distance and lack of communication takes its toll on relationships. For those of you who see us rarely, it is as you know something that always weighs on me. It’s over 5,800 miles, nine timezones, eleven hours and thousands of dollars by plane away from many friends, and a mere 3,500 miles, six timezones, and thousands of dollars from most of our family. So here is a bit of an update as to what is new with us, just in case we don’t see you anytime soon.
The most important aspect of our lives is obviously our daughter, and from the picture you can see isn’t a baby any more. The old lady is talking, walking, running, playing, counting, swimming, and doing many new things every day. I’d like to take credit but she is doing most of the work. Joanna’s current favorite books include various illustrated adventures of Winnie the Pooh & Friends as well as Curious George. Marcus Pfister books are also a hit. This is the extent of my reading, generally.
Switzerland is not without its charms and benefits. There is a functioning health care and social security system, they have world reknown public transportation systems, and perhaps most importantly a safe and healthy environment for our daughter. She goes to the Kinderkrippe three times a week for six hours or so. Apparently she speaks better Schwiezertütsch than both Christine and me put together. That was the goal. Not that my german is completely ridiculous these days.
Summer is finally here. For those of you on the East Coast it clearly came early, but for us it really arrived yesterday, when the rain finally stopped. Today it is partly cloudy and about 23°C (73°F) and just beautiful. Our local town of Wetzikon has both an outdoor pool and a local lake that we can swim in, but for fear of repeating last year when it was just plain frigid, we belong to the indoor pool in nearby Uster. Our daughter loves swimming, so much so that she has woken up from a dream crying “Swimming Nappie!”
I have had a relatively light travel schedule over the last few months but that changed on the 9th of June when I went to Heidelberg, DE for an Anti-Spam conference. In a few days I will go for just a few days to Hanover NH. When I take these trips it’s hard on Christine, so I try to keep them short. This is another reason why many people haven’t seen much of me lately. While the current plan is to be in California toward the end of September, this too is subject to change. It’s not for lack of wanting to see friends there, though.
If you make use of Dopplr, I have started to playing around with it to update the schedule, but so far as I can tell it doesn’t do a good job of combining others’ calendars to give you a unified view of where your friends are. Bummer.
Until next update.
Your daughter looks beautiful! Christine, I relate to being home, alone, with a child. It does get easier…sigh….