So Trusting, It Makes Me a Bit Nervous.

 

Since we moved into the new place, I've been opting for more outdoor exercise. Finally, the weather is favorable for it & we are right on the hill. Turn left out of the house, downhill to the lake, turn right out of the house, and walk up, up, up and you can end up here, at the insanely expensive, gorgeous, Dolder Grand. If you are in the mood for feeling ill, check out the price list. Just a reminder of the serious cash many people around here have. The hotel looks out over the entire city, lakefront & is built right above a golf course (which, as Joe says, how can a golf course not make a place more beautiful?). It's Ahmazing. Really, I couldn't be happier with the new neighborhood. Joe made a comment one day that 'it's not that much nicer here.' But that's only because he only has seen from the tram stop to our house and then from the house to the tram stop. The real beauty is just up the hill a bit, and tucked away in corners, and hidden in the varied building facades. All places that my gimp can't get to quite yet. But soon enough. I wait anxiously for our evening walks again. But, I digress. One day as I am enjoying a morning huff up the hill, I chanced upon a cabinet filled with jams, juice concentrates, vinegars, dried fruits & other homemade concoctions. I've heard about & seen these types of things in the suburbs, farmers or flower growers, set up a stall & a lock box. You help yourself to the goods, and drop your francs in the box attached. It literally still blows my mind that in this day&age, one can leave their wares out, unattended & people will simply choose what they like & then pay the amount listed. So, I'm standing there, headphones in, mouth a bit agape, deciding which jam looks nice when all of a sudden a man is standing next to me, telling me in German that it's self service. I respond (in german!) -- I know, but I don't have any money on me. 'Oh, that's okay he's says, just take what you want now & come back later with the money.' This makes me nervous, my german fails me & I blurt out really that's okay, I just live a few blocks away I'll come back with money later. And, that's just what I did later that night when I selected this blackberry jam. It's seedy, and yummy. And it's made by a guy right up the hill. How freaking cool is that? Yeah, I'm officially a big fan of the neighborhood.

Another thing I'm a big fan of is the Genius Playlist option on the IPod Touch David gave us at Christmas. A bit sad that I've had this bad boy since Christmas and am just figuring out that it randomly generates playlists based on a selected song, but hey, better late than never. Plus, the more adept I become at it, the more I desire the phone version, so perhaps it's not such a bad thing I'm just getting into it now.

Lastly, I know some followers out there have been unable to use the comment function for varied reasons, so I changed the settings to allow anyone (not just registered users) to now be able to leave comments. Please, no rash of anonymous comments now with saucy language & excessive compliments. We already know we're awesome, no need to inflate our egos.

I'm like Andy from Season 1 of Parks and Rec...but with a job

(aka Pretty Helpless)

Some of our more astute readers responded to last week's SOS by recommending the tv show Parks and Recreation (thanks Megan and Karla!) to cure the mutual boredom in the Duchek household. Having not been interested in catching the show prior to it being recommended, Liz and I have both been pleasantly surprised and now wish more episodes existed. Anyway, the character Andy has two broken legs in Season 1 and really can't do anything but live off his girlfriend's charity. He is pretty much a slacker in all senses of the word, which is sort of how I feel at the moment. Liz has been running the show around here and I couldn't be more appreciative. So, the whole point of this post was to thank Liz for taking care of me during these immobile times.

Meet with the doctor again in 2.5 weeks to hopefully drop the crutches like a bad habit, so we'll see. Weather is finally turning nice, so it's time to get out there!

Just Call me Li/Lee/Liu...

 

Cause I am rocking the Asian cooking. Our Sunday night dinner was spicy peanut chicken served with coconut rice. Yum. How did I not know about coconut rice until now?? I feel a bit cheated. Had a few pad thai flops, but finally seem to have that down as well. Sure beats a minimum of 24 per plate for noodles or curry. An even bigger perk to all this cooking variety, Joe requested more snow peas in his second helping, snow peas I tell you. And the previous week, he mentioned 'these are the best roasted tomatoes I've ever had.' Best & tomato in the same breath. It's getting hectic over here.

School's Out for "Summer"!

Not that the 50 degree tempartures & rain really invoke the summer feeling, but I'm off work for a while & for now, that'll have to do. Here's a link to a fairy tale project that the kids worked. They each wrote, and illustrated their own fairy tale, then put audio & music to it. Pretty amusing stuff. This is my personal favorite, typical strong German accent & one of the most animated, amusing kids I've ever met.

The Sedentary Life.

Is already starting to drive us both a bit batty. We only have 3 episodes of 'It's Always Sunny' until we are all caught up on that fantastic series. So, I'm sending out an eeeSSSSOS (is all i need to send). Please advise on favorite movies, or new TV (comedy) series. If not, we may really need to take Karla up on today's suggestion, online Catan tourneys, which clearly was a fantastic suggestion. Top that one friends, please, as I think the whole time-zone situation is going to create a small glitch on the online gaming.

I Just Googled It

And microwaveable bagged rice lighting on fire does not produce any results. Am I unique? I noticed the smoke, but I thought it was from the veggies I was cooking on high heat on the stove top. However, it just kept coming. Then I looked over at our microwave (we just inherited it when we moved in, perhaps I forgot how to operate one over the past 2 years??). And the baby is pouring out smoke. I mean, legitimate, I'm cursing in the kitchen, smoke. I open the microwave, think holy shit, then try to blow it out because I'm not about to grab a bag of rice that has fire spurting out the top, but that appears to only make it worse. Still cursing. Joe responds from the living room, do you need help? YES! A few moments later I hear him crutching over. And the man blows on it & it goes out! The audacity. How come my wind didn't have that effect? Somehow the microwave is still functional, although the top is seared & it smells a bit like burnt plastic. Fancy.

'We've Never Seen Anything Like It'

Says the doctor. Apparently, Joe's combination of injuries is not to be found in textbooks, nor has the surgeon or any of his colleagues heard of such a combination of injuries. Way to be special babe! We all know you are;O)

This hotel, I mean, hospital, I mean, hmmm, other than the whole surgery bit & the IV in the hand it's pretty cush. When we arrived, we were escorted up to the room, then the woman took Joe's food orders for the duration of his stay. He had daily menu choices as well as an entire a la carte menu book, and a wine list to boot! Huh? Joe told me to 'stop being an Asian' because I was taking photos of literally everything upon arrival. Obviously, he has a private room with a bit of lake & mountain view, seriously people, lake view. The anesthesiologist came in both before & after the procedure and sat down both times to chat with us about pros/cons of local/general anesthesia, etc. At first, we thought he was an assistant to the
anesthesiologist because he spent so much time with us upfront. Joe's also had a few visits from the surgeon post-surgery, love him, he's a funny guy. His english is wonderful, but he questions his use of language a bit. For example, when talking about Joe's wound dressing, he said, "we'll remove the dressing, wait, is that correct, isn't that what you put on salad?" Well, yes, yes, as a matter of fact it is.

Joe opted for the local anesthesia & was able to watch the monitor the entire time throughout the operation. The doctor was able to explain to Joe what he was doing as he operated. Sounds really neat (and a little bit gross), huh?! So, the doctor was quite pleased with the operation & felt Joe's knee is in better condition than he might have thought. His main PCL band (the anterolateral PCL) is completely torn. However, his posteromedial PCL is still intact which we hear is good news. The rest of the plan is still the same, sweet USA brace for the next 6 weeks full-time & then go from there.

Yesterday on the way to the hospital we took the tram & Joe sat down next to an old man. Older people always want to speak to him about what's wrong with him, and this guy was no exception. It's so funny to struggle through explaining the accident/what the story is to people in broken German. I overheard Joe explaining a week back about how he 'meine kruezband diskutiert.' And, I said, 'you are discussing with your ligament?' Joe told me no, that means dislocated/tore & I said, I'm pretty sure it means discuss. He looked it up & sure enough, he'd been telling old people all around Zurich that he discussed his ligament. Love it! So, on the way to surgery, Joe told the guy he would be in the brace for 6 weeks & the guy said, while laughing, 'just in time for summer ending.' Yeah, thanks buddy, thanks for rubbing that in. At least everyone here says to him 'Gute Besserung!' (Get Well Soon!) I'm certainly hoping he gets well soon & know all of you are thinking of him & hoping/praying for the best as well. It's honestly been an eye-opening, positive experience. We really can't believe the level of care here. If the hospital had their way, they'd have him overnight for a second night in the hospital, whereas in the US this would most likely be an outpatient procedure. Luckily, Joe convinced the doc he was fine to go home, so we both had a good nights rest & are ready to get back at it -- I return to work tomorrow (for one week before summer holidays!) & Joe, well, he's on a work call as I type;)