Flügel

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It has been a few days and already I am behind on my writings. This week has been incredibly busy, working about 50 hours in total with one day starting at 7:30am and ending at midnight. During the week it seems like I will not have too much time to myself, which is fine now since I don't really have too many people in my phone yet. However I just don't know if I will be able to continue this pace for a whole year. I am hoping that once all the kids activities begin my time to myself will increase.

The weather for the past few days has been warmer than what I would like to be in normally, but seeing as how it is coming towards the end of summer I can't complain. It gave me time to go swimming in Lake Zurich and get some sun on my shoulders before the clouds roll in cutting the heat in half. I have been trying to encourage the kids to go swimming because I realized that either of the boys are strong swimmers yet. As in they don't really know how to float and are not comfortable in the water by themselves. Since the water is in their backyard it seems to me that having a love for the water would be ingrained into their minds. It was actually difficult to get them into the water and swimming instead of just sitting on the edge letting the water roll over our laps. Growing up in a beach community I started to love the water at a young age. As soon as I could swim on my own, my parents had a hard time getting me out of it. I have such fond memories of playing at the beach or in the pool with my siblings. Not everyone I know enjoys getting wet as much as I do, but they should have an appreciation of it.

Saturday I went into Zurich and explored my new stomping ground. Wandering around much like what I did in Florence. Being able to walk through a city without a map and just stumbling upon fantastic places like small independent bookstores or cafes. I did in fact find an English bookstore down one such street, where the prices were not cheap but the selection was fairly vast. Recently I have found myself in a reading rut, I have been too comfortable with the same genre, and so to broaden my knowledge I picked up a different type of novel. A more classic story by Jonathan Swift, "Gulliver's Travels", I have never read it but it seems fitting for me and my current living situation, except for the little people aspect that is. The idea of being shipwrecked on an island though does have its appeal. Sometimes I feel like I idolize this outcome, which is why I choose to move to new places with fervor. After being in Switzerland for a week I already am thinking of new places to live or travel too. I don't think I am one of those people who enjoy being rooted solidly to a place. So comfortable with their life that they don't ever want to leave. One of my best friends is like that and she can't seem to understand how I am able to move away from everything I know and start a new life somewhere. My excuse is "Why not?" why shouldn't I go somewhere different and experience life outside of the known.

Being able to travel on my own and not feel a need to have someone with me at every moment is something that I am lucky to have. The more I travel and meet new people the more I realize that so many wish they could just pick up and leave but are too committed to things around them like work or family to do so. I am not trying to judge them for their choices because it was there priority; well mine is discovering new places and ways of life apart from what I have grown up with. Which brings me back to the bookstore and wandering Zurich. Because I am so new in town I don't really know what is going on in the city or around it. The family I live with keeps telling me about things happening in the city that I should experience, like the flea market I found by the lake. It was this huge compound of vendors selling everything, house-wears to clothing to carpets and jewelry. Most of it was nothing special but the people watching there was interesting. You could see every demographic that there is in Zurich. The Swiss don't really buy stuff, it seems like everything they purchase has to have a purpose, which in essence is a European way of life.

After the flea market I went and spent some time at the park to finish a book so that I could start my new novel before heading back home. I had bought a 24-hour train ticket so I would be able to not only go to Zurich in the morning as well as a return trip but also go back at night later. At the street parade I had met Lucia a PhD student in Zurich and we had really gotten along despite English not being her first or even second language. So I met up with her for a drink or in my case a diet coke and the two of us went to this outdoor bar next to the train station that is only open during the month of august. It was incredibly crowded, making walking hard without stepping on someone feet which in my case would have been lethal since I was wearing stilettos. The building looked like an old castle of some kind and had a light show that was 3-d making the bricks and windows look like they where breathing and moving, very neat to see. Lucia is one of those beautiful, memorable persons that when you go out everyone seems to know or has seen around town. So it didn't take long until a few men stopped us. It got a little annoying because we were actually trying to talk and get to know each other and the men would speak to her in German, which I don't know so I could do nothing but stand there looking rather dumb. The bar stopped serving at midnight so it was shortly after that when we said our goodbyes and parted ways.

The train that I take to get into and out of the city runs all night and day long but after 1pm it only runs once an hour. So I was trying to catch the train that left at quarter after the hour. Unfortunately I got more than I little confused about which city it was going through so after running to catch the train (in heels) I stepped on it and sat down. That's when I looked up and realized this train was going to the other side of the lake. Dashing off the train I had just gotten on I went and asked a station attendant where the train I wanted was and they pointed to the train I had gotten off. Running back I got there just as the train pulled away. A mental note was then taken about this particular train, so hopefully this confusion will not happen again. Waiting in the station for an hour for the next train was boring to say the least, luckily I had brought my ipod with me to listen to on the train. Which kept me occupied so that I didn't drop dead from a lack of entertainment.

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