Chad and I have had a great week. Monday night we went to the Dietlikon Schwimmbad (swimming pool) and Chad worked away trying to perfect his water-treading skills and I did some laps. I really want to learn the egg-beater. Right now when we go swimming I just can’t keep up with Elisa. Then we went outside and sat in a giant hot tub. It was really relaxing and beat our regular “stay at home and go to bed early” routine.

Wednesday night I had a soccer practice and Chad had one Thursday night to prep for the multi-stake soccer tournament this last Saturday. Chad loves soccer so I reluctantly agreed to participate as well. I kept warning everyone that I am not good. I have no technique, I do not know the rules and the last time I played was when the soccer ball was half my size. I was so nervous Wednesday night when we practiced but I wasn’t a complete idiot on the field. Though the highlight of the night had to be that I must have swallowed or inhaled at very least a half a dozen little gnats. Every so often someone would spontaneously start hacking. Very humorous.

We played Saturday from 12:40 to 6:15. After Wednesday’s practice I hadn’t stretched and was paying for it still 3 days later. We had a really great time. Our women’s team got 7th place out of 9. Sadly, I am pretty proud of that. Chad played in the semi-finals against the winning men’s team. Everyone kept saying to me, “Chad’s good!”, “He’s really agile!”, or “Wow! He’s fast!” I was one proud soccer wife. A lot of our American and Swiss friends were there to play or watch which made it a really fun afternoon. I am even convinced that I would like to play weekly with the girls. Miracles do happen. Yeah, that’s for sure. 🙂

• Photos of soccer

We finished Saturday night very sleepily with our building’s Hausfest. The food was great and we met some really nice people. We keep being surprised at how great our place is. Besides the re-routed flight path right over us the atmosphere here is really great and so friendly. It was a true coming-of-age experience too. My favorite thing to eat that night was the pickled beet salad. I must be a real adult now.

Friday night we headed down to Zug for a farewell BBQ for the Barlow family. It’s too bad families have to come and go so frequently. We are really going to miss having them here. They are really down-to-earth and good, fun people. We met the nice new family who will be moving into their place, but the Barlows certainly cannot be replaced. Good luck Familia Barlow!