Category Archives: Gratitude Friday

Gratitude Friday: The Swiss Pharmacy

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Post by Lauren

One thing I am recently grateful for is the Swiss Pharmacy. I had a few prescriptions I had been dreading taking in. I was almost positive the interaction was going to go badly with my French skills.

However, it turned out to be one of my most pleasant experiences yet!

I walked in and presented my four prescriptions, including one for crutches (yes, you have to have a prescription to get crutches).

The guy took my prescriptions, typed it in the computer quickly and walked back and got them all out of separate drawers that the computer indicated. In less than 5 minutes. For four prescriptions and crutches! How awesome is that?

This particular pharmacy handed my prescriptions back with their stamp on them and a receipt. So, I have to bring it back in for refills. Not a big deal.

What else should you know?

–In Switzerland, you must have a prescription from a Swiss doctor to get medicine. You cannot use a prescription from a different country.

–You must file the claim with your insurance to get funds back, this isn’t taken out up-front.

–They do not keep your prescription on file in a computer for easy transfer on refills. They either give it back to you, or file your prescription and make a tick mark when you use one.

–If you are visiting or new here to Switzerland, you should note that grocery stores and convenience stores don’t sell OTC medicines like they do in the States. You have to go into a Swiss pharmacy. But don’t worry – there are a ton of them, one on every corner. When we first moved, our real estate agent jested that she had a client once assume the Swiss were more sick because of the presence of so many pharmacies. Not so; just a different system. Kinda like how you can by alcohol or beer at the grocery store in some US states and not others.

–There may be a Swiss Pharmacy on every corner, but they are not open after 6pm or on Sundays. You can always go to the airport pharmacy if you are in a bind!

–The Swiss pharmacy has over the counter meds as well as high end lotions like L’Occitane.

–This Swiss pharmacy doesn’t have all types of OTC medicines that Americans are used to. If you are an expat, bring 2 years worth of your favorite cold, tummy, and painkiller medicines. Sometimes when you are sick, its easier to just have what you know and like vs. navigate the best substitution in a foreign language.

 

Gratitude Friday: New Bionic Toes

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Post by Lauren

Today, I am grateful for my new bionic toes. Yesterday, I had a successful operation in which the surgeon performed two procedures on both of my big toes. The procedures are a osteotomy and chilectomy.

The purpose of the chilectomy was to remove the arthritis that has been causing me pain, restricting my sports activities, and literally cramping my style for the last 5 years….seriously, you should see how many cute pairs of shoes I have had to give away*.

During a chilectomy, they scrape the arthritis of the joint. Also, the surgeon drills into the toe joint to clean out the arthritis inside the bone. Kind of like getting a “filling” on your tooth. Except for the fact that they let the foot heal itself by developing scar tissue. The scare tissue isn’t as good as normal cartilage but better than the pain-causing arthritis.

The chilectomy isn’t guaranteed that the arthritis won’t reform in the future, so the osteotomy was done to help my odds at a preventing its re-growth. In the osteotomy, the surgeon takes out a wedge of bone in the toe joint near where the arthritis was bad. The goal is that this shifts my weight from where the arthritis damaged the cartilage to an area where there is healthier cartilage. On the right side, he ended up breaking an additional bone to supplement the osteotomy and to reconstruct the foot as my cartilage was entirely missing from the silly arthritis. He affixs his work with a screw in each foot.

If you are curious, you can YouTube the procedures. However, a word of warning….Gabe did this one day and says its gross.

The foot igloo

I am grateful for being able to have the opportunity for surgery. Although its not fun that I won’t be able to walk for 3 months, not everyone has the insurance and healthcare available where they live to address issues like this.

While I have long given up the idea of running again, I am just glad that this surgery will eventually make me pain free in day-to-day activity.

Bon weekend, everyone!

* If you don’t believe me, please look at the type of shoes I had to wear on my wedding day. Birkenstocks!!!

*Luckily, I have a dear friend who has my shoe size. She continually has to justify to her husband that she didn’t buy the 10 pairs of shoes that magically appear in her closet every few months…they were sent by Lauren, in waves of realization she’ll never wear them again

Gratitude Friday: Winter

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Post by Lauren

I know, an odd Gratitude Friday shout-out after all my complaining about the ice and snow and -20 temps. However, I just wanted to reflect on my gratitude for experiencing a full Swiss winter.

If anyone asked me whether to visit in summer or winter, I would have said whatever they would like; however, summer is probably better.

My dental hygienist actually lived 2 years near St Moritz when she was out of school. She provided us great info before coming. Anyhow, I visited the dentist on our home leave in November and posed this question to her. She is newly married and said she plans to take her husband to Switzerland for his first time….but she noted “it must be the winter”. She recounted that her favorite memories are in the winter and that is what she wanted him to see. Good to know.

And now dear readers, after only 6 weeks in the Swiss winter wonderland, I’d agree. Winter here is fabulous. It is unlike anything that I have ever seen before. So, don’t be scared of the ice and frigid temps…..its all a part of this beautiful world we live in.

I am grateful I got to witness this winter beauty!

Bon weekend, everyone!

Gratitude Friday: 33 Years

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Post by Lauren

This Friday’s gratitude post goes out to my husband, since Wednesday was his trente-troisième anniversaire.

Everyday spent with him is a gift.

Last Friday night, we had a triple birthday celebration with A & A as their birthday’s all fell within a week. We went to Mr. Pickwicks Pub for an evening out with Geneva friends. They gave us “the VIP room” (aka “The Champagne room”) for the celebration.

I made some chocolate and nutella cupcakes and L & L brought a lovely cake.

I speak for both Gabe and I that it is really nice that we have met such great people here in Geneva….it makes celebrating occasions like this a lot more joyous.

Here are a few photos from the night:

Bon weekend, everyone!

Gratitude Friday: 2011

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Post by Lauren

I am a little late on this one, but wanted to give a shout out to the year 2011 for this week’s gratitude post. I actually can’t think of a better year in my life. We feel so grateful to be now living in the same city, enjoying marriage, and to be loving Switzerland.

For a recap of our year, check out the following video. Warning: it is five minutes long, so only for the devoted fans (and our moms).

Gratitude Friday: Ski School

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Post by Lauren

This week, class was in session for A, S & moi. Ski school that is.

While I was by far the the worst of the three, I convinced them to take ski lessons with me for the day. The womens’ club has a ski group and the leader takes beginners in the month of January for an introduction and a lesson. And January is running out fast!

I obviously needed some skills based on the last adventure, so we set off for Les Contamines, France for some education on how one skis the Alps properly.

Luckily, the place was a ghost town on a Tuesday. The lack of crowds immediately made me more comfortable. Part of the fear is lack of control. Mainly, hitting a small child.

We started on a blue and Ski Angel (our name for the nice lady from AIWC) led the way, and like little baby ducklings, we followed.

We went slowly, and after a few runs, our confidence built. We were ready for ski school!

 

Ski School

 

Our instructor, Odile, taught us the basics in a combination of French and English. It ended up being more than skiing…it was also a good French lesson. We learned that to snow plow is “chasse-neige” and that the technique of side slipping down a mountain is “descendu en escalier” . She had us (me in particular, being the worst) follow in her tracks so she could teach us how to S curve back and forth properly. I learned that when transversing, the skis should always be parallel, you should stand up straight, and put your weight into the front of the boots.

We also took lots of types of lifts.

There is the bubble lift, the “Télécabine”

There is chair lift, the “Télésiège”. A took this of me & Odile.

 

There is also the butt lift, or the “Téléski”, captured by A.

 

We went on a few runs on green and then Odile took us to a blue. After completing that, we took a lift to the tippy top and then we saw…..

Black Olympic sign - yikes! Photo courtesy of A.

 

Yup, that is a black. Covered in snow. Named Olympique. Okay, so we didn’t do all of Olympique but we had to take it to connect to another area of the resort.

After our two hour lesson, we met back up with Ski Angel for another run.

When we got to the car, I realized that while we had done at least 10 runs, I didn’t fall down once the whole day. Quite a contrast to falling about thirty times in one run on our previous trips. My husband was on a business trip and didn’t believe it when I emailed him to tell him I was safely back in Geneva. In fact, I am not sure he still believes it!

A great ski day at Les Contamines

 

 

So, gratitude for more confidence and a great experience!!!

Bon weekend, everyone!

Gratitude Friday: My Health

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This Friday, I want to dedicate this post to my health.

Just in general, I am thankful to feel good. I realize this is quite a special thing. I have no major health problems (except needing a really simple foot surgery) and I feel better than I have right now, than I have in a long time.

I also wanted to take this post to explain my rationale for why I feel better.

First of all, I have less stress here. I explain it to others that my stress is mainly short term. A bad day is not being able to communicate or having an issue buying snow chains. Those go away fast when I either laugh it off or have multiple glasses of wine. And while I enjoyed my full time job that I had in the States, it provided more “long term” stress, as most jobs do. So this major health affecter has lessened for the meantime until I start working again.

Second of all, I think a lot of it actually is rooted in food. My husband has been on this bandwagon for a long time, but this has taken me a long time to admit the cause/effect. I am now fully there. I just had to be forced to feel the difference in my body.

Here are a few reasons why I think my body feels better with the food here:

–In Europe, they don’t really eat processed food that has been manufactured for convenience, not for nutritional value.

–In Europe, they don’t have a lot of “shortcut” food like low fat and sugar substitute types. No diet ice cream here or fat free pastries here, folks. It’s the real deal.

–In Europe, genetic engineering of animals is illegal.

–In Europe, basically all the produce is organic by nature, they don’t use chemicals or alter the seeds in any way as is done in the States.

–In Europe, it is taboo to “eat on the go” or eat while walking, so it makes for more conscious meal enjoyment.

And its not just me. This topic has come up various times with friends here. One friend reported that she felt gross the entire time she visited the US for Christmas because her stomach had grown used to Switzerland’s foods and it couldn’t take the processed ingredients anymore. It was rejecting them. Another friend commented that she couldn’t cut the chicken into bits for a recipe at her mother’s house because the texture was so unlike the chicken she has become accustomed to here. Just this week, I met a lady who dropped 10 pounds in her first few weeks living here this Fall because of the positive change of the food.

If you are interested in learning more about this topic, I recommend two forms of media. The first is the book Food Matters, which I read with my book club. It encourages conscious food consumption to protect the environment. My two takeaways were:
–Buy things with less packaging
— Try to cut your meat intake in half to lesson the environmental impact that big business meat farming has. After reading the book, I did cut down my meat intake, using nuts and beans to replace half my protein. I didn’t really miss it.

Also, Gabe and I are big proponents of the movie Food, Inc which outlines the danger of the current systems of agriculture. It suggests that we are on a slippery slope; our concern with producing food at less cost for masses of people has altered the food in a way that makes it unhealthy. It suggests that government subsidizing of our food supply creates a few harmful scenarios.

–For example….beef and corn manufacturers lobby the government for subsidies and thus, beef and corn are more affordable in the US. Thus, a typical mid-range US family can’t afford fresh vegetables but can stock up on sodas, packaged foods and other things contained corn oil, etc that might not be a balanced diet, creating health issues. Many US families literally can’t afford to eat healthy.

–Also, in the case of meat, the demand for certain types of meat has encouraged genetic manipulation so that we are raising animals that meet the demand. One of the most disturbing scenes in Food, Inc. is one in which a chicken continually stumbles and falls over…all because he was designed for a breast bigger than he could manage.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZteKtVwwAOo

 

 

 

However, even after seeing this 3 years ago, my coupon-cutting-self continued to scoop up only the large chicken breasts at the local Charlotte grocery store, as every 6 weeks, they were Buy 1, Get 2 Free. So I could get 3 huge packs of chicken for $9 USD total.

It’s only now that the cost equation has been taken out, as well as I am not given a choice – its forbidden to alter the meat production here – that am I now consistently eating “normal” food. Eight months later, I can feel an incredible difference. When we move back, I am going to certainly prioritize buying grass-fed, non-antibiotic meat items and organic vegetables.

Finally, the healthcare is very good here. It is very holistic in nature. I saw my first “general” doctor this week, in an attempt to solve the Cambodia food mystery. She spent an hour with me – asking every single question possible. Asking detailed family history. Information about every health issue I have ever had. Detailed questions about every part of it. It was like she had all day. But she was trying to get at the root instead of solve my surface issue.

My Swiss chiropractor does acupuncture before adjusting as a standard part of the visit. Also, he doesn’t require a pyramid of visits like my US guy did…simply just tells me to make an appointment when I hurt again. In the US, I had chiropractor appointments twice a week, acupuncture once a week and massage every three weeks to try to fix the chronic back pain that I carried – I was spending about $500/month in pain management.

In the last 8 months living in Switzerland, I have only had two visits to the chiropractor and one massage for back issues. I think its a combination of less stress & natural food that has been the remedy. Those who have seen me during my visits say that I look like a different person because of the lack of pain.

And we haven’t had a single cold here since our move. Those who know me well know that I always caught things so this is a big turnaround. This surprised me as well because of how often I am riding in public transportation, sharing air and touching buttons. However, I think its the stress and food that are helping to build my immunity.

Today’s post is not meant to be anti-US. These methods exist in the US, but they have become harder to find because of the effects of food and healthcare economics. I was lucky enough to discover it only by it being the default for us, so I just want to share my firsthand story with two encouragements:
1) If possible financially for you, don’t buy genetically engineered meat.
2) Seek doctors with holistic approaches. It can make a world of difference.

Bon weekend, everyone!

 

Gratitude Friday: My French Teacher

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Post by Lauren

This week, my gratitude post goes out to my French teacher at the women’s club.

Celebrating 86

A few weeks ago, I was the only one to show up for Beginner’s French. I took advantage of the opportunity and asked my French teacher, E, if she would instead teach me about living through World War II. You see, E is in her upper 80’s. She was a teenager during the war and has made various references to her life during this time in French class. Even better, she used to be a history and geography teacher so she weaves in references which I happily soak up. She learned to speak English at the American Women’s Club (one of five languages she knows) so pays it forward by teaching French. In her upper 80’s. Wow.

So, as you can imagine, I was thrilled to get an hour with her to learn about this fascinating topic. Here is what I learned:

She was 15 when the war started.

Switzerland was never occupied during the war. However, all Swiss men served in the Swiss army. They were posted through various spots in case they were invaded to defend Switzerland. Her father was posted in the Jura mountains.

She said, “it was difficult to find professors (teachers) because they were all in the army.”

She remembers riding her bike and there were no cars ever on the roads, because the fuel was not available.

After the war, her father told her that her bicycle was given to her so that in the case of the resistance, he was going to summon them to his hidden camp in the Jura. She was to be the messenger on bike back to the village if needed.

She said Switzerland was safe because it was a huge advantage for the Italians and Germans to use the Swiss railroads. They wanted to keep them in order, to not be bombed. The railroads were Switzerland’s saving grace.

Every night she woke up to flights of the Allied. She said they went over Switzerland because there was nothing to fear in that air space.

She saw an air battle when she was playing with her friend in the mountains.

Prior to the conflict, the infamous Swiss Lavaux vineyards had employed French Savoy women to work. When the war started, they could no longer leave France to work in Switzerland as they were occupied and forbidden to cross the border. So the young Swiss girls and teenagers went every day of harvest to cut the grapes and fix the branches. They had no school during these times.

The boys went to the farms as they were stronger.

Her father had bought many acres of fruit trees – pear, apple and cherries. Her mother had hard work while her father was in the army – she made compotes, confitures (jams) with their harvests.

They grew potatoes to keep from being hungry. She told me “we had very little to eat but we were never starved.”

In fact, in the cities, like Geneva, every park was parted so that apartment dwellers could harvest potatoes, since they didn’t own land.

Because this area was French speaking Switzerland, they could take in French children for three months at a time to nourish them. They took a little boy, 5 years of age, from the South of France into their home. They dressed him in her old clothes. She smirked and reminisced that all her village people gave all the French children French-Swiss accents.

They were given cards to allocate how much sugar, milk they could buy so that the rich weren’t advantaged.

“I lived like a normal Swiss girl,” she said, “I had no problems.”

I find myself pretty lucky to have such an interesting lady as my French teacher. My grandparents were a bit older than E during the war, but I never had a chance to talk to them about their lives in that era. All of what I know was through a scrapbook my dear Aunt J made me of my paternal grandparents which detailed their lives including a sampling of letters from their WW2 romance. And I have a snapshot of my maternal grandfather in uniform. Talking to E about this time makes me feel like I know a bit more….and it turn, a bit closer to them.

Bon weekend, everyone!


Gratitude Friday: Liebster blog award!

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Post by Lauren

I have been nominated for a Liebster blog award by dear Geneva friend and blogger, Lady J, of Lady J’s Musings. Lady J is an incredible writer and I love checking in on her musings about food (particularly macaroons), fashion, and her travels.

This blog had never meant to be an award-winning venture, but I am very delighted to be nominated and want to extend a big thanks to Lady J.

When Gabe & I moved abroad, I knew blogging would be one of the things that would make it easier for our families and friends to feel close. While we might not be able to talk to everyone everyday, it would show physical evidence that we were safe and sound. A way for everyone to “check up on us.”

And that is how it started. What I underestimated is how much I value it now. I often tell people the blog is like my friend. When I have a “Bad Swiss Day,” as my friend C affectionately calls it, it is much easier to come home and craft a story for the blog than wallow in my own “wish I was back home in the US” or “wish I spoke better French” pout-fest for the entire day.

And it is a great way to share the highlights of this remarkable adventure with those dearest to us as well. We are blessed with this opportunity to travel in the heart of Europe so we like to detail the photographs and stories about where we are lucky enough to get to go on our weekends! Hopefully, it will also serve as a bit of a archive for us as well to look back at this experience.

One of the cool things about this award is that it is encourages nominees to pay it forward. I get to nominate 5 other fabulous blogs with <200 followers. So, here are my blog picks:

The Cleveland’s Pad – This blog, written by sweet friend J back in Charlotte, NC, details life in an every-changing family! The heartfelt letters to her son while she was expecting his arrival are so sweet and makes me look forward to being a mom someday. Plus, she is a pretty incredible photographer.

Schwingen in Switzerland – You hear us talk a lot about S and S, and this blog is their account of living in Switzerland. I love all of the history and background that S puts into her posts and it makes me feel a bit more educated about where I am living by checking in on hers daily. Plus her wit makes it equally entertaining to read….especially because she takes in so much more than all of us with her fluent French!

Vintage 77 – This blog is written by a friend who has taken on the challenge of pulling together a new outfit every week from things already existing in her closet. I’ll be the first to admit, my Geneva fashionista skills are a bit lacking (as well as my Swiss franc budget) so its fun to get inspiration from her style and know that there is hope for me yet!

The Hughes’: Our Switzerland adventure – another great blog that we reference often when we refer to A and A or our friends that we met at a bus stop our first weekend in Geneva. Her posts make me laugh out loud. Especially when she uses her Smart-board talent to sketch up Swiss references or even a pictorial account of the in the Red Light District in Amsterdam. Smart-board is to A is what PowerPoint is to me! When she takes a break from blogging, it always makes me sad.

Perfectly Imperfect – A friend from where I grew up recently started this blog recounting her day-to-day life as a not-so-perfect mom. After reading a few posts, I beg to disagree with her self assessment as I love her gorgeous photography and the thoughtful crafts that she does with her kids. I hope she knows how much this will mean to the development of the girls’ creativity and minds. I sure know that I was lucky to have a mom that was creative as well!

Those nominated, its simple :
1. Thank your Liebster Blog Award presenter on your blog and link back to the blogger who awarded you.
2. Copy and paste the blog award on your blog
3. Reveal your 5 blog picks and let them know by leaving a comment on their blog.
4. Hope that the people you’ve sent the award to, forward it to their five favorite bloggers and keep it going!

Bon weekend, everyone and happy blogging!

Gratitute Friday: It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas

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Post by Lauren

This post is dedicated to my uncle who wanted to know how they decorate for Christmas in Switzerland.

The presence of Christmas decorations is also our gratitude post because we aren’t coming home for Christmas. For Gabe & I, this is the first time we won’t see our families during the Christmas season. Bless their hearts, both our Moms decorated their homes for Thanksgiving in Christmas also in order to help infuse us with Christmas spirit.

In fact, it is because there is a lot of this spirit here in Geneva, that we made the selection to come home for Thanksgiving. We figured we’d miss not being home for Thanksgiving more than Christmas since we knew a little Christmas would be in the air in Geneva. Thanksgiving isn’t at all celebrated. And, boy, Christmas has been in the air:

 


Joyeux Noël & Bon week-end!