spring 2015

Gina and I took Sofia for her first bike ride today and during the trip I thought that it's been far too long since my last post. A lot has happened since I wrote last and I certainly won't be able to fill everyone in on everything that has happened, but I can certainly discuss the highlights.

First up is a brief tale of our trip to Germany. Last fall Sebastian, a good friend of ours living in Germany, invited us to spend the weekend with him and his girlfriend in his hometown outside Munich. We gladly accepted and began preparations to make the trip to Bavaria. After passing through Liechtenstein and upon entering Germany I admit to being slightly nervous. I have heard quite a lot about the autobahn and was slightly concerned that ours would be the only car on the entire highway driving slower than 200 kph. To my surprise my trepidation, for the most part, was unfounded. Although legally allowed to travel as fast as their cars would take them, most of the drivers we encountered appeared content to cruise along at about 90 kph, a speed I was perfectly content to mimic. As time passed I grew more and more confident, gradually increasing my speed, pushing my economy class volkswagen to what I was certain was "the edge," even beginning to scoff condescendingly at those meek souls I passed. And then something red, loud, and scary passed me. As I was preparing to overtake a tan mini van, feeling more and more like I could have a bright future in Formula 1, I began to shift into the fast lane. A half a second before committing I double checked my mirrors and it happened. I heard a noise, saw a red blur, and felt my whole car shake as if being hit by the leading edge of a tropical storm. Then it was gone. I didn't pass anyone again for a long time.

Upon arrival to our hosts house we were immediately told that a meal had been prepared at Sebastian's extended families farmhouse. Before describing the debauched scene that unfolded at said property, let me just briefly say that this setting was beautiful. Sebastian's family farm has been in their home for generations and generations. Ancestors of his hundreds of years ago diverted a river and constructed an immense mill, an impressive structure which still stands today. This, and the other traditional family enterprise, killing horses maimed in combat,has allowed for the development of a truly beautiful home. Now back to the evening's details. We didn't really go to dinner. It was mostly, with the exception of all you can eat cheese and sausage, just a lot of drinking. The Bavarians are, and justifiably so, quite proud of their hand-brewed beers. And we learned that they make sure that visitors never have an empty cup.

In addition to enjoying great beer, Bavarians apparently also like to snort tobacco. Gina and I both were invited to partake. To help neophytes accomplish the task successfully, a, hand-built tobacco shooter was built by the family generations ago. Essentially, guests are given a wooden board which is tensioned with a very powerful spring. Tobacco is loaded onto grooves routed into the board, which is placed immediately underneath ones nose. As soon as inhalation commences, a trigger is depressed, releasing the spring, snapping the board up, and shooting a wad of tobacco deep into the users nasal cavity. I wasn't smitten with the results but to each his own. Gina somehow shot her tobacco into her eyes. She didn't enjoy it much either. Except for the snorting of tobacco our visit to Bavaria was incredible. Sebastian's family were wonderful hosts. They took the time to welcome us into their home and eat their food and drink their beer. A beautiful place with warm, wonderful people.

This past Christmas we went home for the first time since we moved to Switzerland. Except for the twelve hour flight with Sofia the trip was great. We traveled to California and stayed with Diane and Steve, who were, as always, wonderful hosts. It was great being back in the states. For me the two things that stood out the most were the size of the highways and the parking lots. Parking lots- at least parking lots that aren't below or above ground- don't exist in Switzerland. In addition to having to host our family Diane and Steve invited quite a number of others, including my own family. It was great. Everyone had a lot of fun and enjoyed a wonderful Christmas dinner.

Since arriving back home things have returned to normal. Gina is busy in the lab, I'm working in the shop, and we are enjoying our new apartment. I spent a week in Durban to conduct some preliminary site analysis for a potential PhD. project focused on urine and recently submitted a proposal to secure funding, we'll see how that pans out. Sofia will move to a new day care tomorrow. We are a little nervous about that but at the same time excited that our commute will be reduced and hopefully we will be able to spend the additional time wisely. She won't be learning Spanish any longer which is a bit tragic. Gina and I are looking for a German class to take so that we will be able to communicate with our daughter. Same old I guess. 

fall 2014: Sofia in the park

farmhouse in Bavaria

going to check out the old mill

visiting an ancient castle in the bavarian forest

1st time sledding

biking in spring

Why'd we stop?

The Mediterranean. Shortly after our trip on the Glacier Express Gina, Sofia, and I hopped on a plane and flew down to Genoa to meet her Dad and brother. Flying with Sofia was about what we expected; noisy, messy, squirmy, and hilarious. Really, the core problem is one of movement. Sofia likes to move and that is something you can't do on an airplane. We'll see how the issue plays out during our flight from Switzerland to San Francisco.

But back to Italy. After meeting Frank and Frankie at a bus stop near our hotel we unloaded our luggage and went out for a walk. Genoa is crowded, old, a little stinky, and beautiful. You clearly get a sense that people have been living in this spot for a very long time, that you are walking over and through a city steeped in history. Immediately following our stroll through the neighborhood we found a little restaurant tucked away in the folds of the narrow cobblestone streets and went in for supper. We weren't disappointed. Rich, hot, and handmade, washed down with wine and in quiet, worn, well-loved surroundings, it was a meal worth remembering.

The next morning we found our train station and headed south. Unfortunately it seemed that everyone else in Genoa had the same idea, because I spent most of that trip crammed inside a luggage area watching four Asian gentleman playing some type of card game. Despite not understanding a single word of what was being said nor the rules of the game, it was entertaining nonetheless to watch the emotions of the winners and losers as the Euros past from one set of hands into another.

Vernassa, the little town we stayed at, was beautiful. Situated on a cliff face that plummeted straight down into the sea, it offered only beautiful water, great food, and stunning views. We spent the next two days hiking between little Italian villages, passing through vineyards and farms, wandering slowly past ancient churches on hiking trails built by Romans. Like Genoa, the food was delicious. Although our time in Italy was brief it was fun. I hope we get a chance to go back soon.

Our little family has been quite busy since our last blog post. Sofia, like always, is growing and constantly surprising us with how much she observes and learns. Gina is working hard on her PhD and will soon travel to southern France to present some of her preliminary data at an international soil conference. I am busy working in the shop, supporting the students in our lab, and trying to find a community interested in using pee as fertilizer. It's proving more difficult that I had anticipated- apparently not everyone is as enthusiastic about the idea as I am...

In addition to our work we have continued to travel around Switzerland. The first trip we took after I last posted was to a little town just outside of Basel, where the ruins of a Roman auditorium, temple, and aqua duct can still be explored. Augusta Raurica, settled around 44 B.C., served as a center of trade for the Roman imperial project north of the Alps for several hundred years and today is a great place to go have an ice cream and learn a little something about the great Mediterranean empire. Although it has been renovated on several occasions, the auditorium is nevertheless still impressive; the scale and craftsmanship that went into it's construction is impressive to behold even today. After our trip to Basel we hosted Kate and her mom Denise. Despite the poor weather we still managed to catch a ride on the ferry out to Rapperswil.

After Kate and her Mom left things were quiet for a while, but for the last two weeks my family has been in town and we have been traveling all over Switzerland. The first week they visited we traveled through the Alps via the Glacier Express. Billed as the slowest express train in the world, it runs from St. Moritz to Zermatt, an eight hour trip through some of the most beautiful alpine geography I have ever seen. Meandering through deep valleys, up soaring granite ridges, past ancient lookout towers and over rushing blue rivers, the train slowly takes you across almost the whole length of Switzerland while you eat and drink in the lap of Swiss luxury. Like everything here the costs are outrageous but as a one time experience it was worth it. As we began our ascent up towards Zermatt, at the end of a perfect day, we were reminded that the mountains are and will always be mountains- even in Switzerland. After pausing for what we thought was a routine stop in a little village we were told a landslide had covered the tracks leading to Zermatt and that we would have to finish the trip in buses. So, in a pouring rain we disembarked and finished our trip on the glacier express in a bus.

The Matterhorn is impressive. A craggy, jagged tooth piercing the sky above Zermatt it has to be one of the most iconic and easily identified peaks in the entire world. We only got to see it for about five minutes during our trip due to chronic cloud cover but for those few minutes... whew.... what a sight. The city itself reminded both Gina and I of Aguas Caliente, the tourist trap sitting under Macchu Picchu. Both are a collection of narrow, cobblestone streets lined with stores hawking ridiculously priced outdoor apparel and horrible food. Despite the imperfect weather and the tourist vibe, Zermatt is unquestionably beautiful. The morning after we arrived we hiked our way to a little village up the mountain. Our path meandered through vibrant fields of wildflowers, over and along a steep, narrow river, and through traditional Swiss mountain villages. It was a wonderful hike.

From Zermatt we headed north to Interlaken, a city situated between two lakes. After dropping off our belongings at our hotel we rented some bikes and went for an afternoon ride to one of the lakes. Again, Switzerland is a gorgeous country with pastoral landscapes that are picture perfect. Our next stop was the history museum in Berne, which we eventually found despite my navigational blunders- due to heavy cloud cover and pouring rain. After deciding that I had no idea where we were going I made the clever choice to ask a local and was politely told that we were heading in the exact wrong direction. So we spun about 180 degrees and headed back the way we had come, this time being led by our gracious host. Upon arrival we trooped into a really incredible museum. The Bern history museum is worth a visit. Although I didn't actually get to read any of the captions due to Sofia's demands to be constantly moving, I am told that they were informative and entertaining.

Next up is a trip to Italy. We will meet Gina's Dad and brother at some town on some coast. I'm told the seafood is excellent. 

Roman ruins outside of Basel

All aboard

train ride with grampa and granma

Sofia with Tio Nick

Matterhorn

above Zermatt

time to rest

Sofia slept for most of the bike ride

Gone Hiking

Last weekend Gina and I financially committed to acquiring a four month GA permit. This is a countrywide transportation card that lets us ride almost all public transportation in Switzerland. The idea was that if we spent the money in advance and also reduced the inconvenience of always having to find this or that special ticket price, we would be more apt to explore the country. So far it is working.

On Saturday we boarded a train to Braunwald, a small resort town in the Alps about an hour and a half from Zurich. After transferring trains at Ziegelbrucke our new train wound its way through one of the most incredible valleys I have ever seen. The Alps are special. Our route followed a crystal clear river flowing in the opposite direction: fast, clean, blue. The floor of the valley was a patchwork of cultivated fields interspersed with the occasional farmhouse or isolated village center. I don't know all the details regarding how the Swiss regulate land use, but they clearly operate with a different set of principles than in the U.S. As our train headed deeper into the valley the mountains grew larger and more impressive- green and brown covered hills eventually giving way to massive snow covered peaks. Upon arriving at our second stop, we took a short walk to the funicular service, again simply showed our GA and were immediately admitted onto the cog train. And then we went up. And up. And up. Soaring ever higher through long, precisely hollowed out tunnels and over raging torrents of rushing water we headed to our final destination. After ten or fifteen minutes we arrived at Braunwald, a quaint and quiet village perched on the ledge of a mountain in the heart of the Alps. After visiting what I can only describe as the village general store we began our hike.

Having done a fair bit of hiking in the states, the first thing that I noticed about trekking in Switzerland is that there is always a sign. Whether you need to know where your destination is, whether you are looking for the closest B&B, or if you simply want an afternoon espresso, there is always a sign. There is no wilderness in the Alps. It doesn't exist. The mountains in Switzerland are a  primped and coiffed wonderland of pines, granite, and five star dining.

However different hiking in the Alps may be from the Western U.S., there is no denying that the terrain is stunning. To begin, the scale is enormous. As we hiked from one ridge to the next we were able to look out across the valley floor at an endless vista of snow capped granite. The vegetation was green and vibrant and healthy. Wildflowers were in bloom in every field and glade we came across. The water was clean and clear and cold. After hiking for two hours we stopped to have lunch at a lake being filled by numerous waterfalls. Sitting in the shade of a huge granite slab while eating lunch with my wife and daughter it was impossible nod to feel a sense of contentment. After finishing our food we hiked down to an aerial tram, boarded and flew back down to the valley and headed home. Next weekend we are planning a visit to Lucerne. Purchasing the GA was a good idea.

View from Braunwald

lets go find oberblegisee

found it! now it's lunchtime.

Not a bad place to enjoy a little formula...

This place runs with no personnel... You just walk up and get on. I don't understand.

 

Spring 2014

Sofia is growing. Over the last two months she has become mobile, crawling as fast as possible to every new object that enters her field of vision. It's fun to watch. And it's also a lot of work. Gina and I constantly have to chase her around the apartment, park, office, everywhere in a continual effort to make sure she doesn't get into trouble. The women who work at her daycare tell us almost everyday that Sofia is an unusually active and inquisitive baby. We have also heard she prefers to play with the older kids, is very independent, and can occasionally steal toys from the kids her age.

In addition to crawling Sofia has more recently turned her attention to learning how to walk. She can stand now and has just begun to take her first few steps. This skill is a bit riskier to learn than crawling and we have had our fair share of crashes, but after a bit of a cry Sofia seems to forget her previous fall and is back up and trying again.

Finally, just today we took her to the pool for the first time. I don't think she has decided yet whether she liked being afloat or not. The entire time we were in the pool she mostly just appeared confused and somewhere between distraught and displeased. But she didn't flip out either so I consider the experience a success.

In non Sofia-related news everything is going well. Gina's research is progressing and seems to be moving steadily forward. It looks like I might be able to continue working for our lab group beyond this September which is exciting. Additionally I am writing a joint proposal to try and secure funding to study the feasibility of amending soil with source separated urine in an urban agricultural cooperative in Cape Town, SA. My hope is to become a leading expert on pee pee.

And the pictures:

Spring is coming!

A few weeks ago Diane and Steve came to visit and Gina and I sure miss the help the provided. Taking Sofia to day care, cooking, cleaning, the list goes on and on and we really appreciate their willingness to spend vacation time changing diapers. To make matters even more disagreeable they caught the stomach flu from us during their stay and spent most of their trip feeling less than healthy. So.. thanks guys for coming all the way over just to help us out and spend your days with the cold. 

That isn't to say we didn't do anything fun however. Diane and Steve traveled to the hills to cross country ski, we had fun hanging out in the evenings and we did visit the Zurich zoo. Since saying goodbye things have been pretty normal. Gina is working hard and making progress on her research. My work is moving along well; ETH just decided I'm qualified to do the work I've been doing which is a huge relief. Sofia is doing very well. She is getting bigger and stronger everyday. She wanders all around the apartment, curious to inspect anything and everything. So all in all things are going well well and we are looking forward to the arrival of warmer weather, more sun, and time spent at the lake. 

Early 2014

It's been a hectic 2014 so far.

Beginning in early January Gina had to prepare to travel to Malawi so that she could collect the soil she needs to further her PhD. This, of course, is an involved process. Vaccinations, malaria medication, equipment, travel arrangement etc. etc. all had to be finalized so that her trip would be safe and productive. Surprisingly enough the most difficult part of this preparation involved finding coolers. It turns out there isn't a single camp cooler anywhere in the entire country of Switzerland. By cooler I mean the Coleman 45$ walmart special, nothing more, nothing less. It doesn't exist here. The closest comparable items are small, solar powered gadgets that inform you of the temperature inside the space you want to keep cool and that warn you if your preselected ideal temperature is compromised. These products do of course cost an obscene amount of money and can only fit a six pack- maybe. In the end we had to special order four coolers to keep Gina's soil in tip top shape from the Germans, who have realized the wonderful, simple utility of the classic cooler.

After all the preparations were complete I drove Gina and her professor to the airport, we said our goodbyes, and we parted ways. As I left the airport with a screaming infant strapped down in the backseat I pondered how the next 10 days would go. I guessed they might be difficult. I was right. Tending to a child, at least from my experience so far, isn't that complicated. A baby eats, it sleeps, it craps its pants. These needs are easily taken care of and met. The challenge is to meet these objectives while doing everything else involved with living and working. Going to the grocery store for example becomes enormously challenging. Cooking, eating, cleaning, sleeping, relaxing- they all become activities that can only be done when the little one allows. It's exhausting. What I am saying is having Gina away in Africa kind of sucked. But she is back now, she brought back half the dirt in Malawi, and it appears that she avoided contracting any of the exotic tropical diseases that flourish in sub Saharan Africa. Success.

Of course, after Gina got back from Africa she had to go to a four day winter school somewhere up on the German border so Sofia and I repeated our dance for another four days. Ironically enough it was this second trip to a location an hour away where Gina contracted and delivered an illness. So a day after her second arrival she and I both spent two days making frequent trips to the bathroom to purge ourselves of whatever we had tried to consume minutes before. And then Sofia got chicken pox. You always hear about the chicken pox so I always assumed it could be severe- and maybe it can be- but Sofia basically got a few pimples on her face and chest for a few days and that was it. No fever, no chills, no symptoms of any kind except for the marks, which are already starting to clear up. I suppose we were lucky in that regard. To make sure it was what we thought it was we went to the doctor who, after initially assessing Sofia and then telling us she had small pox quickly realized the linguistic mistake and corrected the misunderstanding.

All in all it's been quite a 2014 so far. Thankfully Gina won't have to travel again for some time. Thankfully.

More pictures:

Gina's bed in Malawi

One of Gina's field sites

maize everywhere you look

carrot mash is yummy.. sort of