Dienstag, 8. November 2011

constitutionals and constitutions

So, I won't need to learn about the Swiss constitution for a while. Turns out that I have to be registered in the country for 5 successive years before I can get citizenship. The year unregistered has erased all of my integration apparently. Meanwhile, Ivo will let me contribute input for our voting here and I can continue to scoff at laws here like a foreigner. Actually, it's pretty Swiss of me to act shocked by Swiss bureaucracy. One of the first things I heard from a Swiss person on the trip home was the swiss flight-attendant being self-deprecating about her people. It's a national past-time, as is emigrating, so....
Apparently as of Dec 2010 it has become law in Zürich that all pups under 16 months go to obligatory obedience school (Hundeschule). I'm actually quite excited about what the course will do to make me a good pup-owner, but the fact that it's obligatory turns me off a little (also a typical Swiss reaction).
In addition to pup school, I've registered for a Swiss sign language course and a certification course as an English teacher. Add to that my pal Olivia and my plan to breathe new life into the women's intramural football league and I have just about filled my schedule enough to outrun any grief about the adoption until we can resume the process in March.
While we've been moving into the apartment - setting things up and rediscovering things in boxes - our musical choice has been telling. I play a number of torch songs and break-up songs and feel comforted (I was talking to Ivo about the fact that friends of mine who have never wanted children before and are now finding themselves pregnant make me feel a bit like when your ex is happily in love with someone else) and Ivo plays artists like Springsteen and Niel Young. We're both like teenagers blasting music to heal our wounds. Meanwhile our parent-figure is downstairs. An old fellow who spends his retirement being a nosy parker round the building lives below us. I'm trying my best to lay down carpets and muffle any excessive sound that may annoy the old curmudgeon.
Tonight is our first night in our new place. We've not yet bought enough lights for the rooms, we've no phone, internet or cable, not everything is yet set up, but we've made a lot of progress and I've just been to the farmer's market for omelette ingredients. We'll bring Deliah over tonight (if she allows us to touch her - though we've been blacklisted by her for the last 24 hours) and make a go of it in Bertastrasse 84.

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