Thursday

We're off today to the village hall to get my residence permit. Luckily, Claudia (the woman who helped us find our apartment) will be accompanying us, since I don't think my German will get us very far. After that, we plan to drive out to Carrefour (the equivalent of WalMart, I'm told) to try to stock up on basic supplies, which may alleviate the twice-daily trips to the grocery store down the block. (Its hard to fit too much toilet paper on a stroller and then walk it back home!) Jay is in Germany for the day - long day for him... but we are all looking forward to Friday, when we'll be together again.
In the meantime, Jack, Kate and I have been putting some serious miles on the stroller - walking everywhere to acclimate ourselves to the city. Yesterday, we visited the lake, the park, the train station, the botanical gardens, and our future home (which, unfortunately, still looks like it has quite a bit of work to be completed!).
Major accomplishments yesterday: Recycling (you recycle cardboard/paper near your home every 2 weeks, glass bottles in a neighborhood receptacle about 10 minutes from home, and plastic bottles at the grocery store - so it is quite a feat of organization!), A picnic at the park, and Stalking two expat moms at the park, where I learned about a course called, "Ready-Steady-Zurich" that we will try to take sometime in the next few weeks.
Tomorrow we'll visit two bilingual preschools in the afternooon that are within walking distance of our apartment - we'll see what everyone thinks about that... and then we're having dinner tomorrow night at Alton and Shannon's home, which will be perfect. (Since I have yet to venture to the meat counter at the grocery store, my family is getting a little tired of pasta every night). More to come...