Zurich, Part One (and Photo Friday!)

I left Indianapolis on Monday, October 19th after being delayed for about an hour from our original departure time. We then sat on the tarmac for another 40 minutes before taking off. (Which I think totally sucks....why didn't they just leave us comfortably sitting at the gate?) Come to find out, we left Indianapolis late, sat on the tarmac for 40 minutes, and then circled Newark for 40 more minutes because apparently the vice-president was at the airport. I understand the need for security and all that....but how can one guy be responsible for me nearly missing an international connection when I had a 3½ hour lay-over built into my intinerary? BUT, why complain? All's well that ends well! I didn't miss my connection, I met up with my awesome Boss and we boarded the plane to Zurich about ten minutes later.

The woman sitting beside me on the Indianapolis to Newark leg was on her way to Romania, where she had been living for the past five years. She was an IU graduate who had majored in opera, when she decided she wanted a new life and relocated to Romania to work for an organization who helps orphans. Four years ago, she fell in love with an orphaned baby boy and is now going through the process to adopt him. In order to adopt a child in Romania, you have to first establish residency...which means you must live and work solely in that country for 60 months. That's SIXTY, not six. People have such amazing stories...and here is the "turn lemons into lemonade" segment of this speech...I would have never known this woman's story if we hadn't circled Newark for 40 minutes.

To say I felt like a pile of poo when we landed in Zurich is an understatement. I couldn't sleep on the flight, partially because I was excited but mostly because the guy across the aisle from me had the worst set of adenoids I've ever heard and I spent most of the nine hour flight fighting my gag reflex everytime he snored in a big loogie.

Upon making it to the hotel, taking a shower and drinking eleventy cups of coffee, I started coming around , so we took off on a walk down Bahnhofstrasse. Bahnhofstrasse is touted as one of the world's most exlusive and expensive shopping avenues. I just liked looking at all the watches and expensive chocolates! And I'm not sure it's all that exclusive, anyway....a quarter pounder by any other name is still....a quarter pounder.

Later that night, we met up with our group for the first time for an outing on the fondueshiffe, or Fondue Boat. Uh, YUM. Seriously, what could be better than an entire dinner of cheese and bread? I was a happy, albeit tired, Hoosier girl.

After taking the tram back to our hotel we were invited by two of our new Austrian friends for a "sleeping drink." At this point, I could have slept standing up, and I knew that a drink of any sort would be my total undoing...but how do you say no to one 6'4" Austrian woman and another Austrian woman who rolls her own cigarettes, both of whom you just met? Yeah, you don't! So the "sleeping drink" was actually grappa, and it was served by a German-speaking Indian man at a Thai restaurant. Think about that! Isn't that funny? Or was it just funny to me because I had been up for two days? Well, regardless, this German-Indian-Thai-guy poured us all grappa and everyone raised their glasses saying prost and I took my first sip. WOWZA!!! I didn't know it was legal to serve diesel fuel as an alcoholic beverage in Switzerland.

Even as bad as it tasted, I somehow managed to finish the "sleeping drink."

And then, before I even knew what was happening....I fell asleep at the table.

Happy Weekending!

Living in a Dream

It's been nearly a month since I posted, which seems impossible. That's how utterly busy life has been. So busy that an entire month has passed in what seems like two days. I'm out of all my regular routines and I feel almost like I'm living in someone else's life. Like a dream, I guess. It's weird.

But awesome.

An overview:
Home. My parents had a mini-disaster at their house three weeks ago. They were away for a long weekend and came home to find a pipe had broken in the bathroom, which resulted in a pretty tremendous mess. The bathroom was a total loss, and the basement...well everything in it was thrown away...including the furnace, washer, and dryer. Due to the extent of the damage they are unable to stay at the house, and are (wait for it)


Living with me and Hubby!

Haha! I know that sounds like some people's version of hell on earth, but for me this has actually been really fun! I love drinking coffee with my mom in the mornings. I love coming home late from work to the smell of her potato soup (that only tastes right when SHE makes it), I love that someone else will empty the dishwasher, and mostly I love the fact that I'm lucky enough to still have both my parents and am able to let them shack up with me. So far the only downsides are: No naked house walking, toilet seats being left up (cut that out, Mom!) and staying up too late because we talk too much. Not bad at all, I'd say.

Work. This place is crazy busy!! We are at the highest occupancy we have ever been and people are calling and stopping by nearly every day for information and tours. It's amazing and I love it, but I've worked waaaaaay too many hours lately. Which is why I'm not going to feel bad about being away for ten days while I'm in Zurich.

Yup, that says ZURICH! WHEEEEEE! I'm going to Switzerland!!! I've been invited to attend an International Symposium on Validation Therapy for people with Alzheimer's. This is an incredible opportunity to meet some world re-knowned people in my industry. Actually, this is such an incredible opportunity that I don't even have my head all the way around it yet. It's unbelievable.

Again, like a dream. Sometimes, when you're busy minding your own business and taking care of your old people, something really great happens. According to Gladys, anyway. :)