I Have Found Our Castle!

Thank you, this time, to the Basel expats group on Yahoo.  I have identified what I believe to be the perfect castle for us!  The Lenzburg Castle includes a museum, an armory, and a children's museum where, according to a Yahoo list member, "children can dress up in medieval costumes or make their own swords and shields."  Sounds about right!

Schloss Lenzburg

For those of you whose German is better than mine, this site includes a video tour of the castle.

If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them. - Henry David Thoreau

One outing I am planning for us is a visit to a castle.  I am still searching for just the right castle to visit.  One that is accessible by public transport from Basel, one that is kid friendly, and most important of all, one that looks like a real castle....something that will impress the 2 and 4 year old!

This Swiss tourism site, which includes an interactive map of all the castles in Switzerland, should get me started with the planning!

I discovered that my castles stand upon pillars of salt and pillars of sand. - Coldplay

Swiss Labeling

I have stated that what stresses me most about this adventure is safely dealing with Layla's allergies.  One more reason to love the internet....I emailed the aha! Swiss Allergy Centre (not sure why the interesting name) to ask about how food products are labeled.  I had noticed "may contain" statements on products from Coop's online store, and this prompt response from aha! clarifies things a bit.  I am so grateful to be able to connect with folks half a world away with such ease.

Dear Mrs. Farnham,

Thank you for your question. The Swiss legislation regulates the declaration of tree nuts and peanuts as follows:

-       Tree nuts (hazelnut, almond, walnut etc.) and peanuts must be listed in the ingredients list in any case if they are added to the food.

-       In Switzerland, unintended contamination with peanuts or tree nuts must be declared as well, if they (could) exceed a ratio of 1 g perkg. Contamination of less than 1 g per kg should be labeled the same way. You will then find the following note on the packaging: “Kann Nüsse enthalten” (may contains tree nuts) or “Kann Spuren von Nüssen enthalten” (may contains traces of nuts).

On products from Coop you’ll see the allergens labeled in a green box. If you wish to see the labeling of products from Migros as well (the other supermarket in Switzerland), you can find them on www.le-shop.ch. On any food product you can find a phone number to call and ask, if the product does not contain tree nuts or peanuts.

If you have further questions, don’t hesitate to contact us.

Sincerely,

Karin Stalder

Deputy Head Specialist Team

aha! Allergiezentrum Schweiz

aha! Swiss Allergy Centre

Neutrality

It's less than 24 hours since the double bomb attack just 12 miles from our home.  Words can't really describe the mix of emotions running through this city today.  The world we live in is crazy.  I think that 8 weeks in the island of neutrality that is Switzerland will be good for us.  We're not running away, because we will be back and we will continue to help the Greater Boston area move forward.  Not that crazy can't happen in Switzerland.  Like I said, the world is a crazy place.

                                       

In an effort to continue life as normal, I am doing what I can now to prepare for June.  It's my school vacation week and the kids are at daycare. These 4 days could be just about the only large chunk of time that I have to plan and to organize.  I have purchased tons of personal care items that we will need and also new over the counter medications that could come in handy.  The last thing I want is to have an ill child and be confused over medication dosing because I am unfamiliar with the product and/or I can't read the label.  I've also been thinking about how to entertain the kids on the plane and also in the apartment, since we won't have all of their toys.  I've visited a few of our local toy stores (Henry Bear's Park and Tweet Tweet Toy Shop) and I've purchased some fun items that should be new and interesting for the kids.  I picked up some ever-popular Wikki Stix; it's been years since Layla has seen them and they'll be new to Josh.  I also picked up some new compact games similar to this Caterpillar game by Haba that we already owned.  Layla already has a backpack that she will bring on the plane, but I purchased this shark one for Josh.  I can't wait until he sees it! Between new toys and the iPad/Kindle/LeapPad, these kids are destined to have the most fun plane ride ever!

Toy Library

I am posting this link here because there is nothing "pinnable" on the page.  I need to find out more info, but this appears to be a list of toy libraries; there are two listed for Basel.  Sounds promising!

http://toy-net.ch/ludothek/ludotheken.htm

This time it's for real!

Here we go again.  We have been approved (really, actually, officially approved!) for a summer in Basel.  I am picking up right where we left off with our planning last year.  My Basel board on Pinterest is full of fun places to visit in the area and I am connecting with folks in CH through a variety of Yahoo lists and message boards. 

Since last year, we have become more informed (and alarmed) about Layla's peanut/tree nut allergy.  This is the biggest source of my stress in terms of planning for the trip.  Forget about whether or not Josh will still  be using a binky or whether or not he'll be potty trained (I do not know where the public toilets are in Basel!), I worry most about how to keep Layla safe while we are on our adventure.  Food allergies are not nearly as common in CH as they are in the US, so the society in general is not too well informed about them.  Plus, there are 4 national languages in CH and I speak none of them (sorry, Herrs Aust and Rausch!).  This will make reading labels and communicating to restaurant staff quite difficult.  I have "met" some expat moms online whose children do have allergies and lots of the info I have gained from them has helped to ease some of my worries.  One of the moms keeps a blog about living in CH with an allergic child.  Others have pointed me to certain brands of food.  I'm particularly in love with the JaMaDu brand that is available at the COOP grocery stores. Being able to scan the aisles of the grocery store without really being there is so amazingly helpful.  Not only does JaMaDu make chicken nuggets and frozen meatballs, but they also make teddy bear-shaped pasta.  Seriously, how did we all get by before the internet?! 

Auf Wiedersehen, Basel!

We are sad to announce that our trip has been canceled. It's a complicated story of budgets and bureaucracy. Chris and I, and even Layla, had really begun to live this dream and it's a sad loss to recognize that it's not going to happen. We are hopeful that some day we will travel overseas as a family as more than just tourists on a whirlwind trip.

Trying to look at the bright side. Here are some good things to come of this:

1. I can enroll Layla in the "Teddy Bear Picnic" camp at the Lex Res.

2. I can get back to the gym. Put the kids in the gym daycare and work my butt off.

3. We will be able to visit grandparents in Maine and maybe even meet our new cousin, Liam.

4. We can focus on finishing the basement and maybe even enjoying it this summer.

5. Layla no longer has to worry that Josh is going to "fall out of the sky" if he isn't buckled into a carseat.

So, to the two of you out there reading this (hi, Mom!), Auf Wiederluege, and until next time!

A Little Taste of Home

I came across this blog today and was so happy to discover that there is a Vapiano in Basel. We discovered this place in Boston and love that it's a family-friendly place where we can get the kids a pizza or some pasta. I wonder if the staff in Basel makes bunny-shaped pizza like they do here! Of course, like everything in Switzerland, the prices are about 3x what they are in the States. We'll start saving for some pizza now!

What's in a Name?

I think I used that same title to a couple of blog posts when we announced the name of our children.

Well, no children being named here, just some confusion about how Switzerland came to be abbreviated CH. If you're like me, you didn't even know that CH *was* short-hand for Switzerland. Well, it is, and surprisingly, the CH is NOT for 'cheese' or 'chocolate'.

This snippet from Wikipedia explains where the CH comes from:

Switzerland, in its full name the Swiss Confederation (Latin: Confoederatio Helvetica, hence its abbreviation CH)...

Hence the Swiss Franc is the CHF.

And now you know.

It was meant to be

I finally googled this "fasnacht" word that was popping up in lots of different places in my search. Check out this wikipedia entry to find out why I was surprised to find out what my homeland of PA has to do with my summer destination.

Connecting

I am really feeling the Basel love these last few days. I posted a message on the Basel expats' Yahoo group and I have gotten a bunch of responses. People are so helpful! I've connected with a woman who works at a summer program for kids and also with a woman from the Boston area who had all sorts of advice AND has offered to send me her babysitter's contact info. Woohoo!

Big Things and Little Things

As I mentioned before, we have so much to think about. I lie in bed at night, my mind racing about what we will need to pack and what we can buy when we get there, and what we can do without. Once our housing is secured I think that some questions will be answered for us. Novartis is tackling the housing. Hopefully it will be a 2 bedroom apartment. I hear that places there are small, so it could be cozy! Will someone, somewhere (the Novartis gods?) make sure that we have a twin bed and a crib in there when we arrive? Or will we be making an immediate trip to Ikea? Luckily, I located an Ikea less than 20 km from Basel. Then again, without a car, how would we get there?

Because I can't yet answer a lot of the big questions, I decided to take care of something much more trivial....water shoes! I was at my favorite resale shop, Growing Up, in Belmont, and found good water shoes for both kids this summer. I have no clue what type of swimming or water activities we will be doing over there, but at least now we are prepared! So....water shoes....check. Everything else that really matters....no checks.

Planning, planning, planning!

We finally got our summer in Basel, Switzerland approved. 8 whole weeks! We are so excited about this opportunity, but know that there is lots to think about before June 25th. Check back often to see how stressed I am as the school year winds down and our summer winds up! You can also follow me on pinterest to see some of the cool spots and activities I've found.