November 28, 2015

The kids struggled to get up again – mostly Maggie who has taken such a liking to sleeping. I get it.  Yet eventually they were up and dressed and we were out the door amidst the beautiful snowflakes.  As we go to Bürkliplatz in a backwards fashion (from across the river instead of up BahnhofStr), we saw the bus – 161, sitting there and then…it left.  On Saturdays they run every half hour, so we had a wait, much to the chagrin of the kids (again, mostly Mags, our public transportation guide).  Going up the hill was quick, however, as there were few stops made and soon we were walking down NidelbadStr to my old school.  The building sat on the hill, looking at me, proud of it growth (whole new wings and various areas had been added, which I saw not too long ago at a different visit).  It was the same school, and yet, it wasn’t.  The one area which remained the same was the corner in which I sat, listening to music on my yellow Walkman.  It was here I heard Def Leppard’s “Pyromania” for the first time and fell.in.love.  I believe, if I’m not mistaken, hat Tom Fogarty also gave my Mötley Crüe’s “Shout at the Devil”. My metal years were birthed here.

Walking into the school, I heard voices and there they were – Tamara, Peter, Dominique, Mike, Linda, & Mr. Beckwith (a math teacher whom I didn’t have, but remembered well).  Also Jenny Wyss – who works for ZIS and has been my FB friend for years, though this is my first time meting her and David Cook, the principal.  It was a magical time as we walked through hallways and shared stories from long ago.  We all agreed that as lovely as the school is now, it isn’t the magical place we experienced, with parsley found in our hot cocoa from the machine (Due to someone selecting a bullion soup before), the rickety stairs going downstairs,  crowded with students or the crowded locker rooms with lockers we had to bring our own locks for.  Now, the lockers have charging stations for laptops and phones, have an included lock installed on the locker (honestly I have never seen such fancy lockers), the coffee/cocoa/soup machine is so good my kids want to buy such a machine with our family fund.  The rickety stairs are incredible, leading down to a majestic maze of luxurious classrooms, labs and music rooms.  It is certainly not the villa of old.

One of the most memorable things of today was this:  Long ago, there was this beautiful student whom I was so intimidated by.  She was lovely and quiet and oh, so classy.  I could tell she didn’t like me by how little she said to me and so I made no attempts to befriend her.  How could I?  She was much, much too good for the likes of me.  I learned today, after almost 30 years, that she felt similarly about me, which is yet another lesson to me about assumptions and fears.  

The kids and I left and headed back to the hotel, taking the bus down to ”geneiß” every moment.  Ethan’s shoes were wet, so we came back to the hotel, changed and then went out to explore and grab a bit to eat.  Only, on a Saturday, restaurants are closed in the mid-afternoon, and so we ended up walking a huge loop, in the exact same circle of space we have been frequenting for the last week.  It was a lovely walk, though.  We saw a group of boys Ethan’s age doing some welding, we saw a wall of street art, with a trash can for disposal of spray paint cans. We saw a brick wall, with notices about the lizards living there and to please not spray paint, as it would harm the lizards…so no spray piant.  The lovely river with the summer swimming area, the beautiful fresh crisp air.  This is my heaven.

 

Later, Maggie and I went next door to Migros and picked up a few items for tomorrow – Sunday, when only the underground city at the Bahnhoff is open). Back at the room, the kids decided they wanted to stay behind, so I left them the tram tickets, should they decide to explore and I headed off to my evening reunion.  It was a lovely wine bar near the opera house and I saw Dom, Tamara, Roger (who had not been there in the morning – he was class of 84) and eventually Michelle joined us.  It was a wonderful, wonderful time, talking about so many different topics and enjoying the night immensely.  When I got back home, I found Ethan had enjoyed a walk around and was thrilled he was able to enjoy Zürich the same way I had done 29 years earlier.  This is a primary reason (wow, I seem to have so many “primary” reasons) I want to move here – to give my kids an opportunity to discover their own abilities in a way that isn’t down in the States.  Am I scared to move here?  Hell yes! Am I going to do it anyway?  I am doing my damnedest to make it happen.  My year here changed my perspective on Life and I want the same for them. 

 Pictures: Look at us looking at us; My corner!!; A photo from the kids at the Landes Museum yesterday; From our walk through Zurich; Die Kilchberg Kirche