Life in the City

So we moved over two weeks ago. How's life in the city going? Glad you asked!

We love it here. LOVE. IT. HERE. Although we are only about three-quarters unpacked, they're the important three-quarters. Small Boy's room, of course, was the first to get set up. Then our bedroom, most of the combined living-dining area (it's one big room) and the two baths. The kitchen came along in stages - first the important stuff that allowed us to have basic meals, then slowly other items until we got it all sorted out. Most of the china is unpacked, but the stuff we really won't be using like the whiskey glasses and the port wine glasses are still boxed up somewhere. So are the Michel Jordi dishes and things like random serving platters and other wedding gifts.

Our office is half done - we still need to get a desk, so there are some boxes in there, but the shelves are in and the secretary is serving as desk for both of us for now. Well, I pretty much have my laptop on the dinner table most of the time.

The guest room is where all the boxes that still need to be unpacked are, so we just keep that door shut and pretend it's not there.

So far we've taken in Sri Lankan curry once, pizza twice, and Thai thrice. That's not too bad right? And hey, we've cooked fish twice already! And how strange is this? I actually DO get more exercise/go outside more in the city than in the countryside. There's a small park about five minutes away from our building and as long as the grass is dry Small Boy and I go there most mornings for about an hour. I spread a blanket on the grass, toss some toys in the Boy's direction, sit next to him and read the paper. Several afternoons a week we go for little walks around the Old Town, just because it's easy. Sometimes I take him down by the river and to the zoo. And I've started my yoga class again. So I actually am getting more exercise - and certainly more fresh air - in the city than in the country. Shhh. Don't tell my mother-in-law.

The people in our building met Saturday for a little happy hour. We were supposed to gather in the open area/Kinderspielplatz in the back, but the weather drove us into the entry hall. Everybody brough a little something to drink and a little something to eat and we got to know eachother a bit. My attendance was cut short by the Small Boy, who decided that the echo of 30 strangers making small talk was too much to bear. After he fell asleep upstairs I went back down, but the reception on the baby monitor kept cutting out on me, so I went back up. R stayed for a few hours, however. At halftime he came up so we could switch off, but by then I was cozy in the apartment, happy to be alone, and not feeling like socializing, so I sent him back down to continue to represent us. But from my brief attendance we have an interesting crowd. And small world! A couple in our building used to live in Small Village Right Next to Our Small Village. There's another American in the building, though you'd never know it from his perfect perfect Dialekt; some Germans; and a native Spanish speaker, but I didn't catch her country of origin. Our immediate neighbors speak a mixture of French (I think they're from the Romandie - French-speaking Switzerland) and Dialket. So, unlike in Small Village, I am not a freak foreigner. I don't even stand out. This is good.