Laowai

The girls’ school had a big celebration last week to celebrate its 75th birthday. It’s a sweet school with lots of great teachers. We’ll be sad to leave it.

Claire’s classroom has a fireplace!

Our move is looming over me. Last week I had a minor freak out because I realized how little time I have before the movers come. I have exactly two weeks from today.

I’ve been going through every closet and every cupboard and drawer. I’ve realized I have too many containers. You know that feeling you get – if you just get some nice plastic boxes everything will become organized. Or how you just have to have more lovely baskets to put stuff in. Well, I have enough baskets and bins and boxes – I just need less stuff. Moving really makes you think about your stuff and your relationship to your stuff. I like my stuff and yet packing stuff like fabric or little sculptures that the girls made or purses I love but rarely use – it makes me think. I don’t go in for that Marie Condo stuff – I like to be surrounded by things that remind me of memories and people. Or I just like to surround myself with things that please my eyes. Stuff is not bad, but when you consider how much it costs to ship it – well then I have to pause and really evaluate each item and how much I love it. And then there is the possibility that our stuff will end up lost or at the bottom of the ocean on it’s way to Switzerland. Yeah, it’s a remote possibility, but it pops into my head and adds to my general anxiety. And then still there is stuff that I am not attached to, but I just haven’t gotten rid of because we have a big house and it just gets filled up. I went through a box of old linens today – things like tablecloths that I made for our small table at our old apartment. I hadn’t looked at them in ages, but there they sat on the shelf in a closet. I really do feel like my main occupation as a mom and manager of our home is to shuffle stuff in and out and around our house. It feels a bit silly and meaningless sometimes. I sorted through all our holiday decorations over the weekend. Paring it all down to the stuff that I really love. That was hard. Our house is starting to feel really disorderly because I’m putting piles of stuff everywhere. I want to make it clear for the movers which things are getting shipped and which things are staying so I’ll end up moving things all around – making one room all go and other rooms all stay. I think about our new apartment all the time. One thing I’ve learned from moving is that you can’t just expect all your furniture and storage stuff to work in a new place. 

Yikes – that was a bunch of rambling. Here are a few pictures of our apartment (with the previous tenants stuff). The whole apartment is shaped like a quarter of a circle – with the curved part all in windows. Here’s the living room, you can see the fireplace and the dining area in the distance.

The kitchen and dining area:

We have two patios – this one is off the kitchen (cats not included).

And here’s our bedroom:

It’s been a while since we’ve made decorated cookies and I wanted to try a new recipe. After fighting over which colors of frosting to make the girls got down to work and made happy, beautiful cookies.

We went to London! It was a quick trip, but because the girls are such good travelers – we were able to see and do lots.

We arrived on Thursday morning. Brian let me take a short nap and then we went to see The Tower of London. There I am below – pretending to be sightseeing, but really I’m sleeping. I’m not so good at the jetlag thing. I often get grouchy like a tired child.

Brian and I try to talk to the girls and interpret the historical significance when we go to a place like this. We do our best to explain things and get it into their heads that this is some reeeeeally old stuff. Sometimes the information seems to sink in… other times they just want to chase pigeons. 

I got to go to the beautiful fabric mecca – Liberty of London. I picked out a couple meters of fabric and called it my Mother’s Day gift.

Our girls walked and walked and walked. I guess they are at a good age. They still want to hang out with mom and dad and they are up for adventure. They loved the London black cabs, we had a really funny, charming driver one day. They were up for hopping on and off The London Underground – we taught them how to say tube with a “ch” sound. One day I noticed some parents changing their baby’s diaper on a park bench. I couldn’t help but think that it’s nice to be past the stage of nappies and pushchairs.

We stayed in East London – traditionally a poor part of London with lots of immigrants. The architecture felt layered and layered with history.  

Brian and Bea thought this photo, below, was extremely funny (???)

On Friday we went to see the queen. We knocked on the fence, but she didn’t answer. So we went and had a nice walk through St. James Park.

On Saturday it was time for our reason for the trip – the wedding of a friend and colleague of Brian. 

This was the first wedding that our girls have attended. I think they were pleasantly surprised with how cool and fun it was. The bride and groom made it really fun for everyone – including the kids. The wedding reception was held at the Victoria and Albert Museum of Childhood – a toy museum! And I guess they wanted to please Brian too – he got drunk on cheese.

On Sunday we had to head home.

Thanks, Matt and Raluca, for inviting us to your beautiful wedding and giving us an excuse to take a great vacation to London.

One more thing. Look Grandma – your sweet little suitcase went along. I got several comments from people at the airport and from a flight attendant. They all thought it was a great!

Get off the plane. Hop in a taxi. Can’t stay awake. This is what jetlag looks like. 

 

Some people are eager to see photos of our trip to London – well, blame Brian for the delay. He’s been in Zurich this week and I’m waiting to get some of the good photos he took on his phone. In the meantime… it’s Lily of the Valley time!!!

When I was making my quilt I really noticed that my eyes were not working like they used to. I guess that’s what happens when you are 40 something. So I got some glasses – do I look smarter or older…

Brian and Bea got a tandem bike! They were both very excited. Brian wants her so badly to love biking like he does. I have to tell him – take it easy – she does like it and she will like it if you don’t overdo it. Here they are in the parking lot of the bike shop. Brian can’t wait to try it in the hills around Zurich. I might even get to try it sometime.