Puppies!

Today we went to the zoo and saw lots of puppies, according to Lavi. 

Happy family

Making friends

Flamingo King

Kuzco

Boating

Egg hugger

Swiss-Cheese-Land

Last week The Mad Man and many other family members helped me move out of my apartment in Ariel. There was a lot of schlepping and driving involved but we did it. The sun house now looks like it could be the set of a post-apocalyptic movie in which hundreds of families are displaced from their homes and forced to leave behind belongings as they hastily pack what little they can carry.

There were some halfhearted attempts to try and reign in the chaos but the task proved to be overwhelming and not much progress was made. In an effort to avoid having to deal with the madness, I fled the country.

The Freddie's graciously invited me to join them on their vacation in Switzerland and now seemed like a good time to take them up on their offer. I packed up a little suitcase and The Crazy Lady drove me to the airport so that I could catch my afternoon flight to Zurich.

I found my gate and sat with the others waiting to board the flight. Boarding time passed and we were still sitting and waiting at the gate. Forty minutes later they announced that we would start boarding and began to send us out the door and onto a little shuttle bus. We drove over ten minutes to the other side of the airport, it was the longest shuttle ride I've ever taken. There was speculation of a kidnapping but we pulled up to a lonely looking little plane and disembarked the bus.

It was windy as we began to board the plane. The woman in front of me looked fabulous as her silky hair streamed out behind her looking like she was in a scene from some romantic comedy. My hair didn't get the same memo and flew in front of my face, effectively covering my eyes. I struggled up the stairs looking like a relative of cousin it.

Once we were seated of the plane things went pretty smoothly. I watched some TV and had a chat with the couple sitting next to me. Before we knew it, the plane began to land. We got off the plane and followed the signs to the airport train that took us to passport control and baggage claim. I found my suitcase and went to meet Mr. Freddie who was picking me up from the airport.

After a quick stop at Mami's house we drove to the Freddie's adorable little cabin in Immensee. It was pretty dark out by the time I landed so I didn't see much scenery on the drive but this morning I woke up to this...

I've certainly had worse views.

Violent Music

Yesterday I walked up the mountain to the university for the last time this school-year to hand in the final paper for my second year of nursing school. Mid-august, my summer vacation is finally starting.

My lease ends at the end of the month so in between working on my project I've been trying to pack up my apartment. Yesterday The Crazy Lady drove out to Ariel yesterday to pick up the boxes that I had already packed. Z is taking some classes during the summer semester so he came after class to help with the schlepping.

I'm storing most of my stuff in L&Z's basement so after we loaded up the car we drove to the sun house to pick up The Mad Man and Avi and then headed to L&Z's house for dinner (and to put my stuff in the basement).

I like to think that I have a pretty solid relationship with most of my siblings but admittedly, I don't spend a ton of time with my youngest brother. A point that was made evident yesterday afternoon as I carried some of my belongings into the sun house to store in my room.

Avi and some friends were sitting on the couch playing Xbox. One of his friends looked up from the screen and asked "Oh, where are you coming from with all of that stuff?" to which Avi replied "Uh, she has a job in Ariel, I think. She goes there a lot..." satisfied with the answer his friend shrugged and went back to playing Xbox.

I'm glad he knows that I'm in university and that I haven't lived at home for two years.

Car partially unpacked, we piled back in and headed down to L&Z's for dinner. Following the earlier conversation between Avi and his friend, I thought we could use the time to bond a little. I asked Avi what was new in his life and we spent most of the ride conversing about video games and such.

We arrived at our destination and parked the car. As Avi was reaching for his seat belt he turned to me with a serious look on his face and the following conversation took place:
Avi: I've been listening to violent music lately.
Me: Oh... Uhhhh, what exactly does that mean?
Avi: You know, it's just a genre of music...
Me: What does it sound like? Could you maybe sing a little for me?
Avi: Um, Ok. It mostly sounds like violins...
*Hums some pleasant violin music*
Me: Oh, Violin! That's nice!
*Avi gives me a weird look and gets out of the car*

I'm glad we had that bonding time. I feel like now we're closer than ever!

The Poop And Scoot

This morning I woke up in my lovely little apartment in Ariel with the urgent need to pee. I walked into the bathroom and noticed that I seemed to be standing in a small puddle. First I checked  the shower to make sure I had completely shut off the water after my shower last night. The shower head was dry and nothing there seemed to be dripping.

Next I moved on to the sink where a considerable amount of water seemed to be collecting. I wiped up the water and waited to see what would happen, nothing did. Running out of options I moved on to the toilet. There was a steady trickle of water was dripping from the pipe that connects the toilet to the wall and drains the waste water. I found a container that I deemed worthy enough to sacrifice to the cause and stuck it under the pipe.

I watched the steady drip for a while before realizing that the container was starting to fill up. We needed a more effective solution, perhaps a way to stop the water from dripping out of the pipe. I debated trying to find some tape to cover the cracks but then realized that shutting off the water would probably be more helpful.

Sure enough, the trickling began to slow down. With nothing better to do I took advantage of the still full tank and emptied my very full bladder. I was feeling pretty proud of myself for my quick thinking and superb problem solving skills until it dawned on me that I would probably have to use the toilet again at some point and now the tank was empty. Emptying the tank had taken a while and quite a bit of water had come out during the process and the pipe was now dripping from two places.

I needed help from a professional, so I texted my dad. He told me to send a picture of the leaky pipe to my landlord and see if he could help. Following my fathers sage advice, I sent a picture of my toilet to the landlord and waited to see what would happen. After a couple of hours of waiting I looked at the clock and began to panic. I had a driving lesson in 40 minutes and I really needed to use a toilet, preferably one that wouldn't leak waste water all over my floor.

With no time to lose I grabbed my keys and half ran to the gym that's about a ten minute walk from my apartment. Pretending that it was completely normal to walk into the gym without work-out clothes or a gym bag, I waved my membership chip near the machine and hurried to the bathroom. Luck was on my side for the first time all morning, the bathroom was almost completely empty. I did my business and then hurried back out of the gym attempting to avoid making eye contact with the guard.

I made it back to my apartment just in time for my driving which went surprisingly well considering my eventful and stressful morning. After the lesson I went back to the apartment to stare at the toilet again. My bladder started hinting that it might be time to visit the gym again so after talking to my landlord and confirming that a repair man was on the way, I got suited up for the gym and headed out in search of a toilet.

The security guard nodded at my proper gym attire as I waved my chip by the machine and entered the gym for the second time today. This time, with the intention of actually working out. But since they conveniently had working toilets, I also used the bathroom before and after my workout.

I got back to my apartment just as the repairman was leaving. He informed me that the problem was solved and I was free to once again pee in the privacy of my own home. I cheered. He nodded briefly and got into his car. True to his word, the toilet did not drip when I flushed it.

A pretty exciting experience all around.