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I like this city

I went for a walk by the river and passed by the old town. The streets in the latter, close to where we live, appeared somewhat busy and lively. It has been like this these past few days, with the spirit of Fasnacht already in the air. I have been told that the celebration of the festival in Basel is the biggest in Switzerland and that the locals take it very seriously indeed. I've been admiring the size of the various Paper Mache about town: these ugly giants (typically sporting shaggy hair, big nose and long teeth) are currently e-v-e-r-y-w-h-e-r-e. I've seen them on rooftops, sign posts, terraces, in the display windows of both fancy shops and corner kiosks, bars, restaurants, and roundabouts. I took this picture below to show you what I mean.   

There were a number of joggers by the river. A good sign as I was wondering where one should go running here in the city. I took the pictures below as the sun was setting. The city is beautiful and I'm very happy to find myself here. All I need to do to be happier here is to learn German and relaunch my career. Especially with the recent good news {yay} that my residence with my work permit is apparently in the post.    

 

I took these pictures a few days before I left for Germany

 

 

 

New apartment

 

 

{our room with a view}

 

 

{my first work of art* - in the living room} 

 

* Car tracks from masking tape - Idea gleaned from a blog somewhere (I can't remember where) on how to amuse little boys while travelling light.   

Settling in

{view from iced window upstairs - old home)

Back home: An uneventful and smooth flight back to Basel but a wonderful welcome at the airport. I was greeted by E and LE - the latter rushing and jumping towards me. I had missed him so very much there was nothing to do but to drop my bag and catch him for a long, big hug. It's so nice to see him again - I really (100x) love him.   

It's snowing: E and I talked about taking LE out for a walk in the forest on Sunday - after I arrived but reconsidered when it started snowing. We subsequently kept warm, playing indoors and watching cartoons on television. It is still snowing but LE's teachers and school mates are made of sterner stuff: this morning LE joined them for his weekly activities in the forest.  

Where am I again? I'm jet lagged. This time I'm not only feeling disoriented but also achy, like I've caught a bug from my fellow passengers. Dangdamnit. I know I'm back in Basel now (and not Singapore or KL or Spain or HK or Copenhagen) but still I'm not feeling entirely settled: we are making trips to and fro our old house and new apartment as the latter is still missing many things including much needed wifi.    

Around me (while I wait for the tram)

 

Our new apartment

(The First supper)

I'm loving our new apartment. It's still barely furnished and all the empty space is making me feel calm and good. We are still missing ceiling lights and are making do with table lamps and fairy lights; this makes the living room dark but cozy.

Last night, E and I had our first supper at home, consisting mostly of salad (we are on a diet after the excesses of the last weeks) and accompanied by Drop Dead Diva. Afterwards, I went back to work (writing my term paper on Afghanistan) while E watched a few American dramas in Spanish.

Our new sofa is extremely comfortable; our bed is even better. Truly, I do think we did well with our choice of mattress and pillows considering the improvement in our quality of sleep.

I had brought a few boxes from HK to the new apartment. I found a few items broken (a wine decanter, sake jug and 2 tier cake stand) while unpacking my "kitchen" boxes. Sigh, a little bit sad as they were items I favoured (unsurprisingly having discarded all the things I didn't feel strongly about). Mais, cie la vie -they are only possessions which can be replaced in the grander scheme of things I suppose.

We are leaving for Singapore later today. Business class tickets courtesy of E as an early birthday pressie - Big YAY. I must remember to stock up on Swiss chocolates at the airport.

Basel

Back in Basel but not for long. It's not sunny here, unlike in Zaragoza. The skies are grey and it's dark outside. Not too bad as at least, it's not windy and raining, which was the case everyday in the UK Midlands (yes, yes, I am a broken record). We spent most of yesterday unpacking and packing for our few nights in the new apartment and upcoming trip to Singers (G and I turn 40 this weekend!). I'm really looking forward to celebrating our birthday and being in the heat again.

I can be obsessive and annoying I know, repeating an incident over and over again. The last big episode was about losing a pair of spanking new wolfords tights which I just couldn't find in my bag as I was dressing to say I do. Poor E and G had to hear me go on about it for days afterwards while we were in Denmark and then Asia. We came back home and I still couldn't find it, despite turning our bedroom upside down - cue for E to hear me go on (and on) with greater force...until last night - when I found it while unravelling my wardrobe! Amazing grace. YaY! 

Next obsession nipped in the bud: E reckons that I will not stop going ack over the VAT incident as I do about my tights (and before that, the adapter I left behind on the train to Germany). He mentioned he would compensate me to minimise the obsession but I didn't take him so seriously. Until last night when he actually did it! Rright after I waved the tights to him. Haha. He's convinced that it's best to nip my VAT thing in the bud i.e. before I get worse seeing as I won't have much else to obsess about having found the tights. As if (yes!)

Zurich before Spain

I think I mentioned here that I had spent a day in Zurich before coming here to Spain. That was my first time hanging out there.  My friend and course mate  T who lives there,  picked me from the train station. We spend an hour or so walking around the station itself, which was decorated with lights and full of Christmas stalls selling artisan goodies. I had to remind myself  that NO!  I did not need anything extra for myself a few times, as I'm not earning any dosh at the moment. Instead, I focused my attention on pressies to bring to Espana. These included yummy looking items like the ones in the pictures below (rose flavoured liquor and lavender scented bath flakes).   

J, another course mate who also lives in the city joined us for an hour or so. We walked around the old town with her. The streets were cobbled; I took pictures of some of the lovely window displays knowing that they would also make G go 'ahh' if she had been walking with me. 

J led us to a cake shop in the old town (seen in this picture below) where her mum used to bring her in as a child for afternoon treats. We put our heads in and that's when I saw the cake display. I was completely sold and promised to return.  Which is what T and I did later, spending a few good hours in there, chatting while nibbling our delicious moist chocolate cake and apple strudel respectively accompanied by our choice of hot tea. The cafe has at least 3 floors (we were on the 2nd floor) and was completely full when we we were there. 

 

Super nice

We saw LE yesterday after 1 month - it felt so good. We have missed him so so so much.

We attended his kindergarten's parent-child-teacher-Christmas-do yesterday morning. I was very taken by the cozy ambiance of the class room: candle lights, drawings and biscuits and cakes arranged around the room. We tasted the biscuits and hot drinks after watching the children perform a song and dance. The seven of them had started their act by walking into the dark class room with a painted glass jar containing a tea light while singing softly in German. The glass jar was handed to each parent by the child, with another art work and off he/she  went back to the centre of the room to sing, clap, thump and dance. We all (parents and teachers)  joined in at the end of the performance.

The experience made me feel warm and fuzzy and totally in love with Swizzer, especially since I had such a good day out in Zurich the day before. 

Lack of Internet

I'm missing regular Internet connection these days. I'm mostly away from home being out and about.

We had our first sleep over our new apartment last night. I had spend the day in Zurich while E had his office party in town. We both felt great about not having to worry about making our regular trek to get back home. E walked home while I simply hopped on a tram from the train station.

We are still missing lights on the ceilings and wall. This is my innovative effort of having some light in the flat.