First Night in Rushlikon

Well Eowyn and I made it! I must be an old softy, because I spent a lot of the flight worrying about my daughter’s cat. The Vet had given me some drugs for the cat and Eowyn was pretty loopy when I handed her over to the airline. I kept thinking what she was going through stuck in the belly of the plane. I figured once the medication wore off she would be miserable. It turns out she was the hit of the baggage handlers. When I got off the plane. There were two or three standing around her crate rubbing her head through the door. She was in good hands! I had heard horror stories about getting through customs with animals before, but honestly, if you have the right paperwork it is not a big deal. It took me about 5 minutes longer and $16 CHF to get through customs. I have to say she is adjusting to being a Swiss cat better than I thought she would. She explored the apartment for about an hour, and has figured out where “her” favorite places are. Based on past experiences I figured she would find a hiding place, and in about a week she would get adjusted and we would see her again. However, she seems comfortable, and is laying here beside me as I type.

The reunion with Julie was everything I thought it would be. After 30 years of marriage, this has been the longest time we have ever been apart. Back in the 90’s I was activated in the Army for the first Gulf War, but I never left the states. I think until this past summer, the longest time we were separated was three weeks, Three months seemed an eternity. I did feel sorry for her at the airport. She was watching the exit area that 99% of the passengers use. She had her phone in hand, was going to record me arriving in Switzerland. Because of the cat, I had to come out of the double secret door behind her! She was a little surprised when I walked up and asked if she was looking for someone!

The apartment is bigger than I thought. I was under the impression that it was about 900 SQ FT. I don’t think it is twice that big, but it is certainly much larger than I was expecting. We have three bedrooms, and an office. The apartment is the 2nd floor of the building, Down in the basement is a garage where we can park one car if we get one. We also have our own laundry room and an attached storage room. There is lot of glass; so there is plenty of natural light, and there are the neatest window blinds. They are actually on the outside, but they are electric, so with the click of a button, you can either close the place off, or open it up to the world. The first thing I have to go buy, though are some electrical convertors. I can’t charge any of my electronics. I do think we were sold the apartment by withholding some critical information, though. You can see from one of the pictures below the crane right off the balcony. We will probably only have this amazing view for a couple more months. Then we will be looking at the back of another building. 🙁 The landlord is knocking $300 CHF off the rent because we have to deal with the noise for the next year, but after that I am going to want even more off the rent, because we are supposed to be paying for the beautiful views of Lake Zurich, and those are going to be gone,.

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As you can see from the pictures, it is very hilly here. Our apartment sits about 1/2 way up a doozy. I am certainly going to get a hill workout everyday. The train station is at the bottom of the hill, and the grocery store is at the top. When Julie and I went out for dinner last night, I had to stop and rest on our way back! I want to think it was because I was tired from the flight, but the reality is that I haven’t done any exercise in the last 6 weeks, and I was never in the greatest shape before that! I have a feeling that will change over the next three years; as we will be walking everywhere.
Well Julie is waking up now, so I have to go. I promised her I would make pancakes this morning for breakfast!