snow, books and bazaars

We are expecting some cold weather! I am sooo excited about the snow forecast. This morning we got what I thought was snow, but I guess it was more like really small hail. Whatever it was, I hope we get some more. Why so into the cold weather? I don’t know, its just fun and different for now… but I am sure I’ll be sick of it by January, and with 3 more months of cold still ahead of me.
Today I went to a used book sale and stocked up on reading material for the upcoming trip. I got couple of Koontz(s) and a couple of Deaver(s) for my thriller fix. I found out this library has a book exchange program, so I will be going back soon with some of my used books to see what other goodies I can get.
This weekend there are a lot of bazaars (and/or junk sales) going on. On Sunday there’s a Mexican Bazaar one in Zollikon (like a Zurich suburb), I think I’ll be going to that one. They are advertising food and music, and the entry is free (food not included). Although I am sure whatever food they are selling I can make better and for less $ … (look who’s all confident in their cooking abilities…)

What I am taking? What am I bringing?

(photo: typical swiss/zurich dish in a convenient packet, just add mushrooms, cream and veil... I think i am taking some of those with me...)

I am making a list, I am checking it twice!
I’ve got 1 month and 1 day before my trip to Dallas, then Ruston, then Juarez. So in my weird little ways, it is time to start packing!!! Well, at least start thinking harder about what I need to pack (the actual suitcases will make an appearance in 1 or 2 weeks).

But before anything else, first, I make a list of the things I want to EAT! Yes, EAT! I don’t want to come back and think “oh! I should have eaten---while I was there”. So in my list of things to eat I write thinks like:
-horchata (rice water with cinnamon
-hotdogs (from a special place in Juarez: parque borunda)
-Ham and cheese torta with a ton of avocado (from Victortas in Juarez)
-Sushi (from the Monday/Sunday sushi buffet: all you can eat for 120 pesos=$11US=12.50CHF… and the sushi buffet here costs at least 45 CHF! You can bet I’ll be eating there every Sunday!)
-corn tamales (maybe my mom will make them for Christmas)
-Fast food! (taco bell, arbys, burguer king, oh my!)
-Barbacoa (mmmmm, that is all I have to say)

I’ve already started a box with things I will take with me, but when the suitcase comes out of the cellar, this is what is going in there:
-the ton of chocolate bars I’ve been collecting for family and friends (will probably go in the carry-on)
-gera’s old xbox (abril and robe brought it with them as a surprise last may, but forgot the cables… and the adaptor for the plug was going to be almost as expensive as buying an xbox here, so I am taking it back to sell it on ebay)

I haven’t thought much about what I am bringing because anything I bring will somehow have to make it back sometime… but for now, this is what I am thinking:
-candy (for gera’s labmates, who always bring candy back from their home countries)
-a popup tent for baby (my friend asked me to buy her this, she cant find it here)

So let me know if you want stuff from here,,. you’ve got time to do a little research and find that special, non-fda-approved product you’ve always wanted and could not get. (I take paypal and credit cards, hehe)

my wish list

My wish list
This year Gera and I are gifting ourselves a new camera! Our current camera is a Canon Powershot A80 that has been very useful for the past 4 years, but now I even have tape on the battery opening! We really liked the swivel screen because it allowed us to take self-photos more accurately, but if we want something smaller and more lightweight, we’ll have to live without it. So behold the Canon PowerShot SD800 IS. It is not the latest model, but has what we need at almost half the price that the latest releases.


I have many more wishes on my list, but I am already getting the very best one: being with my family and friends!!

whats up with the henna?

Many of you know that I have been doing henna body art (aka henna tattoos) for many years now. At one point I had a nice online business (through ebay), and when we moved from Bloomington I had to sell ALL my henna stuff (inventory and personal stash). The only thing that was left was a half empty (or half full, depending on how you see it) shoe box with a bit of henna powder, a couple of applicators, some oils. Fortunately, my henna shoe box has grown a bit in the last year (thanks to a bit of volunteering on transating henna books to Spanish in exchange for henna stuff).
So whats up with the henna?
I have been part of the Henna Page forum, and in there I post a “monthly henna challenge” aimed at making artists of all levels try out a new technique or just go outside their comfort zone. I also participated in last year’s Holiday Gift Swap, and this year I am in too! There’s another henna group that I recently joined called Henna Tribe. With them I’ve volunteered to put together a henna design ebook (where people donate pages of designs and I put them together to be distributed). I have been working more with henna, doing a design on me (or gera) almost every weekend! Also in the works is a website about henna (bilingual), but that will not be done until probably next year.
Do you like henna?

Too much youtube?

(photo: fried chicken a la KFC)

I've always been a TV junkie.
I am currently watching 9 TV shows online. I’ve always “followed” several TV shows, but watching them online makes 9 feel like a lot… I guess it’s because most of them are broken up into several parts.
These is what I watch: Heroes, the Office, Grey’s Anatomy, How I Met Your Mother, America’s Next Top Model, Survivor China, Project Runway Canada, House, Scrubs.
I usually search on youtube and find a person that posts entire episodes (even though it is illegal), and then subscribe to their postings. A lot of times their accounts are suspended, or the videos are deleted, so I have to make sure I watch them right away, or they might be gone by the next day. Also, I am usually 1 episode behind (sometimes more).
My name is Jazibe, and I am a youtube junkie.

expovina

Expovina is a wine tasting festival that takes place once a year in Zürich. It takes place on board of boats all docked together on the lake. You pay an entrance fee and get to try as many wines as you want (or can). Last Friday I went with my friends and we had a blast. We tasted about 30 different kinds of wines and talked and laughed, it was great. Some of the “vendors” had a “I-know-you-are-just-here-to-drink-and-wont-buy- anything-so-I-will-give-you-whatever-I-want-and-send-you-on-yourway” attitude, but we had a “whatever-just gimme-wine” attitude, so it worked out.

November is NaBloPoMo

(photo: stash of chocolate to take to friends and family... gotten bigger since the picture was taken)

After reading Abril’s blog, I learned November is National Blog Posting Month!!!
I did not “officially” signed up but I will try to follow trend and post every day. I know I am starting late, so maybe I’ll extend it to December…

Yesterday I went to the Expovina with my friends and had a great time! Gera could not join us because he’s still sick and on treatment, which means no alcohol for him, which means no Expovina (which means more Expovina for me, because we will probably go together later, since it lasts 2 more weeks). I will post pictures tomorrow (already saving up my blog news to spread them out in a month, hehe).

Happy halloween!

(October 2005)

blast from the past!

I was digging through my photo library looking for pics to use in the Family Calendar (a family tradition on its 4th annual appearance), and I found this! A cousin from Mexico sent it to me a while ago (she's been cropped out of the picture for her privacy). I hope you enjoy it and have a laugh. (I was like 4 or 5)

dear blog

Dear Blog,
I think about you all the time! Its like an obsession!
Even though days may pass without a word from me, you’re constantly on my mind.
If I cook a new recipe I think about sharing it with you. If I see something funny in the street, I think “WWBS”? (what would blog say).
It is not easy to keep you updated, even for someone with very little to do like me. And sometimes what I thought was “blog-worthy” one moment, becomes really irrelevant the next…

Of course I enjoy sharing our travel stories with you, that is the best! But I am afraid there won’t be much traveling happening until the “big one” in December (US/Mex trip), and then when I am there, I will probably write less if at all. I know you will understand. But I promise when I come back I will write and write until the keyboard breaks (not really).

There’s a show on TV called “How I Met Your Mother” and this character Barney has a blog , and he frequently says “this is soooo going on my blog!”. That is exactly how I feel, and Gera frequently laughs at the connection. I think its funny too! (please note that the “connection” stops at the blog reference, if you read his blog you will understand this note)

I really enjoy reading my friends’ blogs too. Recently my close friend Adri started bloggin’ more often (like almost every day, as opposed to the usual once a month). She talks to her blog about her kids, funny potty stories and such. I really really like reading it and makes me want to remember all the stories for when I see them in December. My sister Abril also has her own blog. To her blog she talks a lot about knitting. I hope her blog likes knitting too, or else it will be very bored (hehe). She squeezes in some personal stories here and there. Also, she is super efficient and makes all her entries BILINGUAL (unlike me). In my browser’s favorites bar, I have a collection of blogs I visit daily to check for updates. (maybe I should spend less time with them and more time with you, heeh) I love it how a bit of writing helps us feel closer, more connected, and in touch. Even if it is through a BLOG.

Thank you Blog for all you do for me and my friends.

Sincerely,
Jazibe

ps. the photo above is of one of those moments that seemed blog worthy but later was not... Giant spiders on my way home from the store.

oh!, and dont forget to check with yous sister blog for a tasty new recipe.

more oktoberfest!

As if I hadn't had enough, my friends and I went to a "mini-oktoberfest" held at the main train station in Zurich. It was a last minute thing, and we just stayed for about 1 hour, but it was fun! (although i could only drink 1/2 lt. beer... i used up all my drinking power last weekend, hehe). (photos courtesy of Liz's phone camera)
ciao!

Oktoberfest!

As promised, here’s the scoop on our Oktoberfest adventure!

Oktoberfest photos are HERE

We went to the Oktoberfest on the very last day (it’s called “oktoberfest” but it actually takes place the last 2 weeks in September and up to the 1st Sunday on October). I did a bit of research beforehand, and found out that we did NOT need reservations for the tents (the BIG drinking halls), because they only take reservations for groups of 10 or more. I also looked a bit into public transport, and city sights, but in the end I was so rushed getting all the visa stuff ready, I did not print out anything but the hotel reservation. So off we were with no maps, and a few notes on my notebook.

We took a train early on Sunday, and arrived in Munich around 11:30 am. We decided to go straight to the fair grounds and not to the hotel, since we packed very light and only had a backpack and my bag to carry around (and it also meant more time for beer). In retrospect (and as Abril pointed out), it was a bit silly to think we would be able to get to the hotel at night with a few beers on our system and without a map… but more on that story later.

So we easily made our way to the fairgrounds (just follow the crowd), and made it there a bit past noon. The place is like a HUGE fair, with booths, and food, and rides, and lots and lots of people. We bought a huge pretzel and whole fish to eat. They had them cooking right in front of you, and even though they didn’t look very pretty, they were delicious. A lady asked me if it tasted good, I said “ja!”, then she asked if they were not too salty, I said “nein!” (this conversation was in German, and I was happy that I understood).

We walked around a bit, and went into a couple of tents. At first we didn’t quite know what to do. I had read that you just sit in a table where there’s room, and make friends with the other people there. Even though it was still early, some of the tents were pretty full (at least their “no reservation required” section). Then we found a very lively tent, and found a table, so right away we sat down and started ordering beer.

The tent was full of young people, and they were all singing and dancing on the tables, and after the first few sips, we were singing along too (to “sweet home Alabama”, if you can imagine). We stayed there for a couple of hours (or a couple of pitchers, however you want to put it), and then moved on to another tent. The next tent we visited was a bit less “happenin’ “, but fun too. We stayed there a couple of hours more, and then headed out for dinner on the fairgrounds (rotisserie chicken). We had a great time in both tents, talking to the people on our table, we found some Swiss drinking buddies. We were also very happy to know that our German is not as bad as we had thought. I fact some people said it was very good and we could even have small conversations with them. (maybe it was the beer)

After dinner, we decided we had had enough, and headed to the hotel. This is where I miraculously found our way to the hotel, without a map, and just relying on asking people (in german) “where is…?” And I was so happy that I even understood their answers (not just their signs when they pointed “that way”). Maybe it was the alcohol in my system, hehe.

The next day we found out that sadly our “recovery” time increases with age when we stayed in the hotel until noon!! After checking out, we just walked around the “old town” part of the city, visited a few churches, and had lunch in front of the Rathaus. Most of the museums were closed (because it was Monday), and we were too tired to enjoy them anyways. We were back in the train station and ready to leave by 6:30. Since the Oktoberfest was the main attraction of the trip, we did not feel too bad about not leaving a lot of time to see the city. After all, we got what we wanted: An awesome Oktoberfest experience!

It was “le-----wait for it---- gendary!!!” (<<-- from “how I met your mother”)

Visa news

Yesterday we had our much awaited appointment to get a US visa at the US embassy in Bern. I had been preparing for this for the last few weeks, gathering paperwork, (bank statements, rent contracts, etc) evidence that we have a home here and that we will return after our visit in the US is over (or more importantly, that we will LEAVE the US, which is what they mostly care about).
Everything was going well, I had all the papers organized, and ready to go. We planned out trip, and researched trains and schedules to make sure we made it there on time (our appointment was at 9:30). We left our apartment at 7:20, to make it to the main station for the 8 am train, to make it to Bern at 9 am, to make it to the embassy at 9:15. Turns out the train was runing 10 minutes late, and that threw the whole schedule off!!! Needless to say I was very upset, but trying to think rationally, there's was nothing I could do, so I had to just let it go (very zen). We arrived in bern at 9:20, and ran to the bus stop to go to the embassy, and arrived at the embassy at 9:35. In the end, there was no problem because we had to stand in line anyways, so we were not "checked in" until like 10:30 (btw, we stood in line outside in the rain!). By the time we were admitted inside, the waiting room was full. So we sat and we waited to hear our names called. And waited. And waited. And everybody else got to go before us, even the people behind us in line. So finally we were the last to be sitting there! And we were called around 11:45. And we were asked a few questions ("do you intend to return to switzerland after your trip?"... duh!) and Gera's current US visa was cancelled (a transit visa he used to come here), and they took away by border crossing card (which i used to cross to El Paso to come here), and then they just said we would get our passports with the visas in the mail. That was it. No more papers requested. None of the papers I spent days putting together were requested. I did not feel too bad about that. We left the embassy aroung 12:00. Had lunch at BK (again!) and were on a train back to zurich by 12:30.
So visa "a---------prooved!"
Now the problem is we dont know the details... multiple entries? (i hope so), duration? maybe a year... who knows. We'll just have to wait and find out next week when our passports arrive in the mail.

Anniversary!

Today it’s the anniversary of my arrival in Switzerland. Its incredible already a year has passed… so fast. The past year has been filled with lots of trips and adventures, german classes and “lost in translation” moments, new friends and home sickness. Here’s a recap.

Trips.
We have traveled a lot over this past year. We figured since we’re here, we should take advantage of having a home base right in the heart of Europe.
In the last year we’ve visited 12 cities in 4 countries There’s still plenty we want to see, if only we had more money… For now, we have out trip to Munich for the Oktoberfest this Sunday, and the big trip to the US and Mexico in December.

Language.
We started taking German classes in October of last year, and made it through 2 courses (that lasted about 4 months each) It was hard and time consuming, but fun and a great thing to do together. We learned enough to understand bits and pcs of tv shows, and words here and there on posters and advertisements. We stopped attending classes last july, and planned to take other (less expensive) classes later. We still haven’t signed up for anything… I don’t know if we will, since we’re a bit discouraged by the fact that even learning German, we still wouldn’t speak the “local” language, which is a swiss-german dialect… a bit frustrating. We get by with what we know, and with English (even though a lot of people are reluctant to speak English to you unless you ask them in German if they do… weird).

Green, green, green.
This whole recycling thing is hard core! I’ve mentioned this before, but I think its worth including on the anniversary recap.
So this is how the trash-recycling system works:
-Trash is picked up once a week and you have to buy special bags from the city or it won’t get picked up. (like $1.50 US per 30 lt bag). This gives you an incentive to recycle all you can so you only put actual trash in the bags.
-Paper gets picked up twice a month, and you have to bundle it up really nicely and put it on the curve the morning of pick up. (paper sheets, paper packing, phone books…)
-Cardboard gets picked up once month (egg cartons, cereal boxes, toilet paper tubes…)
-Clothes and shoes are picked up about once every 3 months. You get a special bag in the mail and you leave it out the day of pick up (or drop it off anytime at designated locations)
-Big items (like furniture, mattresses, garden things) are picked up about once every 2 months. You bring them to your neighborhood collection point.
-Glass bottles and aluminum you bring to the nearest collection center (separate glass by color)
-PET bottles are collected at the grocery store.
-garden waste is picked up once a month on a special green dumpster.
-Batteries and electronics you bring back to the store.
-hazardous waste (paint, paint thinners, chemicals) is picked up about twice a year at a neighborhood collection point.

Always on time
The public transport system is unbelievable reliable. Buses and trams arrive and depart on time (to the minute) and you can always count on it. When accidents happen and lines need to be diverted, you can always hear announcements on the speakers on every tram, bus and stop so you plan your route accordingly. I just renewed my one-year pass for about 650 CHF (around $550 US). I am sure this is one of the things I will miss the most when we leave Switzerland.

Prices
Yes, everything is Switzerland is expensive. Food, clothes, everything. Eating out is really not even an option (for us), and going out to bars is an activity that does not happen often. And everybody notices, not just us. But that is how it is, and people just deal with it. So do we.

Friends
We met some people in our German class, and hung out with them a few times. But ever since we stopped going to classes, we haven’t kept in touch. I met a couple of Mexican girls online (through a zuri-mex forum) and we hit it off right away. We are close friends now and get together once a week for lunch and conversation. There’s 4 of us now, and we have a good time talking about mexico and about living so far from home. We have special (evil) fun talking about the swiss, hehehe. Gera’s lab is not nearly as “active” as its predecessor, so contact with them is pretty much a work thing for Gera.

Schaffhausen + Rheinfall

Photos HERE
Video coming soon!


Last Saturday we took a day trip to the small town of Schaffhausen, in the north of Switzerland (on the border with Germany). It has a very nice old town and a big fortress called the Munot, but more on that later. The main reason for our visit was the Rheinfall, that are really close by. The Rheinfall is the largest waterfall in Europe. Its is not very tall, but more like wide and super powerful. There’s a rock in the middle that you can get to by boat, and get a great view and you also get a bit wet by the mist.
We arrived early, so it was still a bit cloudy and misty, but the day got better and by the time we went to the rock, we got a rainbow and lots of sun. It was beautiful and impressive. We thought about going to Konstanz, the neighboring city on the German side, but it would have been a rushed visit to both places, so we decided to go back later (since its only 45 mins and 17 francs away!). The town of Shaffhausen was similar to Bern, full of old buildings and shops (the old town at least). We took a break before going up to the Munot, an old fortress on the edge of old town. (man, you really have to train and get in shape before a vacation!) The munot is round and empty, but makes nice pictures and the terrace gives you a great view of the town. That day we bought prepackaged tuna sandwiches from Coop (like Marsh, Kroger, HEB…), and they were awful!!! (I should have known better) So we made up for the horrible lunch at dinner by eating at McDonalds! (yes, it hit the spot). I think we tend to eat fast food when we’re on tourist mode (like KFC and McDonalds in Prague, and BK in Bern…)
I hope you like the pictures, we had agreat time !

Not much else besides that… Starting to plan the Oktoberfest trip, although we will only be going for 1 night, so there will not be much else besides the drinking part. I added another recipe to the recipe blog: My General Tso’s Chicken (not quite authentic, but pretty tasty) We have our visa appointment in a couple of weeks, so we’ve been getting ready for that filling out forms and getting documents together. It is starting to get cold(ish), and the trees are already loosing their leaves. Can you say "Summer is over"?

I will soon post the “1 year recap”!!

here's the video of the waterfall (sorry for the quality, i had a better version but was taking forever to upload!)

VIVA MEXICO!

yesterday we celebrated sept. 16th, Mexico's Independence day, with what else but yummy food!
enjoy the pic, and imagine the crunchy taste, with gooey cheese, and soft potato, spicy salsa, fresh lettuce... mmmm. i am hungry again (needless to say, Gera was mega-happy!)

Next weekend we're planning a trip to Schaffhausen and its soroundings, i'll report on that later.
Ciao!

food & bürkliplatz

Last weekend we went for a walk around the Bürkliplatz market (a flea market on a plaza next to the lake).
I found some printing blocks of watches (how swiss!) and gera bought me one! maybe some day I will get to print it, and make some nice broadsides about our time in Switzerland.


I have been taking pictures of food, what I cook, eat, buy... I think the appropriate term is food porn, so beware, food porn coming up! (dont forget to checkout my recipe blog at jazibesrecipes.blogspot.com)




Find more pictuers of our day @ Buurkliplatz, and food HERE

ASCIIfy me!

cool!
I like this, i will be playing with it again.
at degraeve.com

Have you tried the rasterbator?

meme: 4 things

“In Blogspeak, a meme is an idea that is shared and passed from blog to blog, like a question posted in one blog and answered in many other blogs.”

So I’ve decided that instead of not writing when “nothing new is going on here”, I will write a meme. And then you can post the meme on your blog, or email me the meme back (can you say that 3 times really fast?)

We’ll start with a easy one:

4 things:

4 jobs I’ve had
-telemarketer (I sold newspaper subscriptions over the phone!)
-crafty entrepreneur (sold jewelry, and candles at school fairs)
-graphic design Instructor (at IU)
-henna artist

4 movies I can watch over and over
-goonies
-back to the future (all 3)
-I will have to think about the other 2…
-any suggestions?

4 places I’ve lived
-Hermosillo, Sonora (MX)
-Acuña, Coahuila (MX)
-Cd. Juarez, Chihuahua (MX)
-Bloomington, Indiana (US)

4 tv shows I love
-how I met your mother
-survivor
-The amazing race
-gilmore girls

4 places I’ve vacationed
-Cabo San Lucas
-Venice
-Prague
-Las Vegas

4 favorite dishes
-Barbacoa
-Tamales
-butter chicken
-sushi

4 sites I visit daily
-hennapage.com
-notmartha.org
-hotmail.com
-youtube.com

our visit to Bern

photos of our Bern trip are HERE

Last Saturday we took a day trip to the city of Bern. Many people attribute this honor to Zurich, but Bern is actually the capital of Switzerland. It is more of a small town than a city, and its downtown area (Old Town) is pretty much all there is to see.
We took a train (that we barely missed) at 8:30 am, and it took us 1 hour to get there. We walked around Old Town and went (up a hill) to the Rosengarten. There’s also an astronomical clock very similar to the one in Prague. We visited the bears in the Bear Pit, and went to the Einstein Museum, located in the house where he lived when he published his revolutionary scientific articles. I wonder if maybe some of that “inspiration” might have rubbed off on Gera (I hope so!). There were a lot of things being repaired (like the parliament building and the Cathedral), and a lot of construction going on around town (maybe they’re just getting ready for the Eurocup 2008). The fruit, vegetable, flowers and crafts market was great! They had all kinds of cheeses and weird flowers. We got some great pictures there, and I bought a fig the size of an orange (almost!), it was delicious! We headed back around 5:30, after eating at Burguer King! (I hadn’t had BK since Bloomington!!). We will have to go back to Bern in a month, when we go to our visa appointment.