I couldn't help myself

Ok, one final note about the "car lady" situation mentioned in my earlier post.  For some reason the garage couldn't send us the bill directly so they gave it to the car lady.  She left it in our mailbox without any communication with us.  So in my last spiteful act towards the situation I scheduled to pay the bill on the last possible day.  This date is after we already leave the country.  Hoping it will make her sweat a little bit wondering whether or not we are going to pay it.  I know, kind of mean, but I just couldn't help treating myself to one final spiteful act after paying 1000 Francs.

Two months

Rules to live by

When you are two there are a lot of rules to live by.  Right now we are working on the rule: Don't touch other people's cars - especially with a rock in your hand.

Here is a recap of how our sweet two year old created a very expensive trip to the library.

I took both kids to the library to get some new books.  Of course, Maxwell starts screaming while we are there so we quickly grab some books and leave.  Liza picks up a rock on our way to the car and I think, "no big deal, I don't care if she has a rock in the car."  While I'm putting Maxwell in the car Liza is standing behind me and I hear her tapping on something.  I turn around to find her tapping her rock on the door of another person's car!  I quickly grab her and take her away.  Meanwhile the lady was sitting in her car and she was not happy.  I try to wipe off the marks but since they were caused by a rock obviously they don't all come off.  They aren't very bad nor super noticeable but the Swiss love their cars and this lady was not amused.  I tell her we will pay for the damage, give her my contact information and am on my way.

The next day she shows up at our house with an estimate of 1073 CHF (Francs) for the damage.  What!  I was astonished at the cost to repair this very insignificant amount of damage.  We call the garage to get more details.  The garage says they can't fix the car until the middle of September and that they can't send the bill directly to us.  We decide to see if the lady will take 500 CHF in cash now - the damage isn't very bad and if it was me I just wouldn't get it fixed and I would pocket the money - or she can send us the bill when she gets it and we will pay the garage directly.  

So the next day my friend, who speaks German, calls "the car lady", tells her the situation and asks if she would be willing to just take 500 CHF now.  The lady agrees, we are feeling great and we think all is right with the world.  Later that evening I receive an email from the lady with her bank details asking us to pay her 1000 CHF and they will pay 73 CHF.  That sounds very fishy.  Why would you offer to pay 73 CHF yourself and most importantly what happened to the 500 CHF we agreed to on the phone?

We write her back asking about our verbal agreement of 500 CHF.  She says she has no idea what we are talking about and is astonished at our testimony.  She demands we pay her the full 1073 CHF immediately.  We tell her we aren't going to pay her the full amount until we see an actual bill from the garage.  She threatens to call the police.  We say fine, call the police but we aren't paying until we see a bill, etc., etc., etc.  These types of emails go back and forth for about a week.

All the while I am having a ton of anxiety that this lady is going to show up at our house and start yelling at us.  I'm also convinced that I'm going to run into her at the store or somewhere else and I just feel so unsettled about the whole situation.  Not to mention we are communicating back and forth in German which just adds a whole additional layer of complexity.

Finally "the car lady" sends us an email saying they spoke to the garage and can get the car fixed this week, but in addition to the repair they are going to need us to cover the cost of a rental car.  Wow...that was never mentioned before and clearly they have at least two cars because when she showed up at our house unannounced the first time we asked to come down and take a look at her car so Jeremy could see the damage and she said it wasn't here.  At this point we are so ready to be done with the situation.  We call the garage one last time, they offer us a "special deal" on the repair and so we agree to the repair and the rental car.

1000 CHF later we are wishing we had kinder versicherung (kid insurance).  However, we are relieved to be done with the drama and we are grateful for our adorable, active two year old that is healthy enough to do these types of things. (We are also waiting for a couple of years when we can look back at this whole situation and laugh about it.  It's all a little too recent for laughs right now but I'm sure one day it will happen.)

August 1st

For Swiss National Day we decided to go to Ballenberg - an open air museum that display Swiss traditional buildings and architecture from all over the country.  It is fairy expensive to visit but we had heard that it was free on August 1st so we decided to give it a try.  Unfortunately that rumor that it was free was just that, a rumor.  Luckily I got in free with my bank card so we ended up only having to pay for Jeremy which was nice.

We had a nice time walking around but I'll be honest, I wasn't blown away.  Many of the workers who would typically be showing how things were done weren't there because it was a holiday.  Other than that it was just walking around looking at old style houses.  It wasn't much different, and actually maybe not quite as good, as some of the other open air museums we have been to.

That being said the area was really beautiful and the day was sunny and nice so we had a fine time.  Liza was feeling a bit sick and tired so she slept for part of the time.

At other times she had fun playing on the playground and seeing the animals.

That night we bought a few sparklers and did them in the parking lot.  Liza was really excited to do them but she got a little piece of "sparkle" on her foot (I'm the inept mom that let her wear sandals) when she did her first one and she wasn't so excited about them after that.

All day we had been talking about the "big" fireworks and I was excited to let Liza stay up late and take her into Baden to see the fireworks.  But when we got there she thought they were too loud and starting crying and screaming.  So we ended up just watching them from the car.  I couldn't really see them from my seat but Liza could see parts of them and really liked looking at them as long as we weren't outside with the loudness.  Maxwell was already asleep for the night so we decided to just have Jeremy stay home with him so they both missed out but Jeremy said he saw some from the house.

Winds of change

Mugs shots, mafia pics, Visa photos...call them what you may but these beauties are the ticket to our next adventure.

These are the non-smiling photos (except Liza, she just couldn't help herself) required for our Japanese Visa's.  That's right...we are headed to Tokyo!  

After almost three years living in Switzerland we are moving on.  I have mixed emotions about leaving Switzerland.  It has been amazing, hard, exciting, hard, interesting and hard.  Our first two kids were born here, we have seen more of Europe than I ever would have imagined growing up in small town Emmett, ID, we fall more in love with the Alps every time we see them and we have grown closer as a family getting to spend so much time together.  However, there are definitely things I am not going to miss - including, but not limited to, really bad customer service, trying to understand what people are saying to me in German, having to translate my mail and being paranoid about following all the "rules".

Tokyo is definitely going to be a change.  I have a feeling we are either going to love it or hate it.  (I'm banking on the love it spectrum.)  But we are only going to be there for three and a half months so either way it will be manageable.  Jeremy is going to be working at a University doing research with another professor and I plan on spending my time exploring with the kids.  My excitement at this prospect may diminish when I'm dragging a screaming toddler and newborn through the streets of Tokyo but for now it sounds like a once in a lifetime opportunity.

Then starting in January it is off to the exotic destination of Provo, UT.  Talk about having mixed emotions about living somewhere.  I loved Provo when I lived there but that was as a college student living wild, crazy and free.  Living there as an established person with kids and a husband who has a real career will be a whole new ballpark.  I have lots of expectations that life near family, friends who speak English, 24 hour grocery stores and Target's will be fabulous.  However, I also worry that I might be disappointed with this "grass is always greener on the other side of the fence" train of thought.  I'm also not sure I'm ready to be in the middle of Mormon-ville.  Too much of a good thing can sometimes be a bad thing. I guess only time will tell but right now I'm predicting a blog post six months from now gushing about how much I love my life in Provo :)

The changes in the Johnson journey never end.  We'll see how it all unfolds.

One month