ByeBye Baganz's, Peace Out Pflanzschulstrasse!

Clearly, we were sad to say goodbye to the Baganz's, but oddly, it was a similar sentiment for Pflanzschulstrasse. Despite our bitching (we may become professionals at this some day), it was a good lil apartment & the only one anyone would give us when we first moved here, nostalgic, right? It's quiet here in our new house, there's no construction, no kloppity shoes in the echoey hallway, no beeping laundry machine. I'm not quite sure how to handle it yet to be honest. Nor do I have any idea what to do with all this space. In typical fashion, I'm sitting on our couch in the same exact spot that I would have in the old place, despite the fact that we have a lot more options now, some habits die hard, including where my bum's planted.

I'll get more out about the new place (including photos) soon. But, first goodbye before we say helllloooo. We are going to miss the Baganz's -- our only friends who actually had kids here, and what great kids they are (as you can clearly see, they have many of the same interests as us -- beer & sleeping;) And, I know Joe is really going to miss Ryan's stable influence at work. But, they are on to bigger things, they moved back to Texas, and as we all know...so, even though there's often no 'good in goodbye' -- we are wishing them all the best as they begin their extravaBaganza!

Oddly enough, moving day went off without a hitch. We were lucky enough to have Fiona's car for the weekend, which made a big difference as plastic bags & clothes still on hangers were definitely considered packed in my book. And, since I was the only one writing the book on this move (due to Joe being out of town to make the monies, thanks babe) my word was heard. As it most always is anyways. Anyhoo, May1 (the day we moved) is a holiday in Zurich. It's basically worker's day & in our old neighborhood last year (a street away from our old place, on Adam & Trish's street) rioters processed up the street lighting trash cans on fire, destroying cars & paintballing buildings. Thanks workers! Trash fires are neat! So, as you can imagine, we were a bit anxious about getting moved & out of the neighborhood stat. The day began with Joe & I surreptitiously carrying the pieces of our giant wardrobe out to the curb (placing a Gratis sign on it & running back quietly into the house). I was anxious about this move because I thought protestors would use it to smash shit to smitherins or someone would have surely seen us & report our ghetto-ness (although our Swiss friend the night before did say to us, 'I know where you guys live, that's what I would do if I lived there' (thanks Andre)). So, we did it. But, I can't say I liked it. Not 15 minutes after we'd ninja'd all the pieces out, but a trash truck rolled up. We were in the empty living room & I saw one of the guys look in, then we hid & listened as they tossed each & every piece of that God-forsaken wardrobe into the truck & smashed it (I cannot even go into the angst we experienced trying to sell/leave in the apt/give away that wardrobe). Ah, the sound of glass breaking has never been so lovely, I was heady/giddy/insanely happy for 6.40am on a move day. I said to Joe, it doesn't matter how the rest of this move goes now, that just made my day. But it just kept working. Adam & Trish came over & helped us move out the big things --- couch out the window, everything else out the door. We made two trips in the truck & car, stopped for some Starbucks in the borrowed BMW (how could we resist?) & then released Adam & Trish from service & went to pick up some items we'd arranged to buy used. Then, we went to the one Ikea in the country that was open due to the holiday. The queue to get into the car park alone tested my will to live. However, as we entered the garage (after our 20+ minute wait), a family motioned to us that they were leaving, we didn't even have to drive around to look for a spot, thank you sweet baby Jesus! This (+Swedish meatballs & a calzone from the Ikea food stand) fortified us to get through the mad Ikea. It was an insane experience, but really, when isn't Ikea insane? That place would make a cracked out jackrabbit breaking it down to JayZ seem normal. I have no clue. But I'm pretty sure it would.

So, it's almost a week later & I still am sort of in shock. There's a few random things left to arrange here. But now that our internet is finally sorted (after 5 phone calls, one technician visit --- the only result of which was him insulting our TV), we were finally instructed to just go pick up a new modem. We got the exact same modem, only new. WTF Cablecom? But when we got home & plugged it in, it worked! Seriously, we could have done this 4 days ago guys. How could the technician not have done that? Speaking of, when he arrived I told him my German was bad (not like he couldn't tell when I started speaking). So, he's on the phone with some other Cablecom person talking about the TV & he's spelling out the brand of it for some reason & then I hear 'scheisse marke' which equals in English 'shit brand.' Now that I understand. So, I laugh. And his face just drops. He was so flustered that I understood him. I almost felt bad for him, except he didn't fix anything. Nada. Then, when I picked up the new modem, I asked that guy if he spoke English & he said not so much, so I proceed in my slowski German to explain the situation about our modem. And, he responds, in perfect English, 'your German is quite good.' I will punch you in your mouth young man, don't you sass me, just give me a new modem & let me talk to my mommy already. So, we're live, call me already mom!