Grutzi! (This is the greeting that the Swiss exchange on the street, in shops, etc.) It’s been a short time since being transplanted. As the saying goes, "bloom where you're planted". I'm working on that. My roots
are barely in the soil, but I'm gradually feeling more at home in Horgen. It
feels a bit like camping or playing house since the apartment has so little
furniture and what we do have is rented. We have to pay attention to how many
glasses we use, for instance, because we only have a few.
We
are living in the only apartment on the top floor of a three story apartment building. The elevator goes up to our floor only with
our key or if we “call it” from inside. Learning how to answer the doorbell
was a necessity. Hear the doorbell? Pick up the phone by the apartment door and speak to whomever is
standing by the outside door and visible in the camera’s view. My first day alone, the doorbell
did ring. No one said anything when I spoke in the phone and no one was
visible in the screen. So, what to do? Nothing. I ignored it. Moments later, the doorbell at our stairs entrance rang. I
had to grab a key and figure out how many times I had to turn it to get the door
open. Then I was greeted by a delivery of an orchid from Tom’s office. Very nice of them and totally worth getting the door open!
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| view from the kitchen |
One of the attractions of this apartment was its amazing views. I don't know which would appropriately be called the front or back. I will randomly assign the view of Lake Zurich as the front and the farm, the back. To either side are other identical matching apartment buildings. I have had the pleasure of seeing beautiful sunrises and sunsets already. I haven't tired of the views and suspect it won't ever get old.
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| Sunrise, |
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| Sunset! |
Walking the area to try to orient myself, I see and hear some familiar things: cars, shops, trains, and airplanes overhead. I also see and hear things that were not part of my daily life in Westfield, NJ: farm machinery cutting back corn stalks, orchards, cows and sheep with their different pitched bells, goats, the drum directing the crew of rowers on the lake, boys learning how to balance on surfboards in the lake, serious stacks of firewood, and birds on the top of the bathroom skylights. (The last one was a very scary experience for Denali.)
Sorry for the amateur video, but here are the neighborhood cows outside their gate. Who knew cows could run? The farmer (and drivers) were not pleased with the cows going in the street, but it made for an entertaining morning.
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| got firewood? |
Within the last 18 months, Tom and I hiked in Rocky Mountain National Park, Yosemite and Peru. Now we can walk out of our apartment and go hiking. Here's a view of the lake and our apartment from a hike. We live near pirates. See the white building? You can't see the Jolly Roger pirate flag from this distance, but believe me it's there! Pirates, for sure. Our building is the second to its right, a safe distance.
