Laowai

Brian is back to his old stomping grounds in Beijing this week – plus a couple days in Tokyo. I am missing him.

On Sunday our vehicle broke down – a flat tire. I couldn’t get it towed so I had to push it all the way home. Of course I’m talking about our stroller. I didn’t realize how much we rely on it until I had to imagine life without it. Turns out I needn’t have been so worried – it was an easy fix at the bike shop in the next town over.

We’ve seen some of the beautiful Christmas lights in the city this week. It was wall to wall people on the main shopping street in Zurich. There was a parade with Santa going on. We only caught a glimpse of Santa (or I should say Samichlaus) – he was driving a tram.

There’s an amazing sparkling tree in the main train station – it’s covered in Swarovski crystals. I wish I had gotten a better picture – each little ornament is hung with a white ribbon. It’s completely over the top and it must have taken forever to decorate. 

There’s also one of these – a giant wooden spinning thing – does anyone know what they are called?

Claire likes to hang out on Bea’s ladybug pillow. She has her tongue out constantly lately. She reminds me of Jenna who went through that phase – sticking her tongue out when she was excited. 

As I write this we are getting some real accumulation of snow. Yippee! We had a couple inches by early evening so just when I was about to lose my sanity from being with my two munchkins all day, we were able to go out and play in the snow for a little while. 

I can’t wait to wake up in the morning and look out the window.