A Little Homesick

 My friend Renate took me to lunch for my birthday on Monday and it was so nice to have time to visit.  We met in downtown Bern, had lunch at the first Chinese Food restaurant I've been to (I have missed my Asian Star), and even had time to do a little Christmas shopping for her son who is on a mission in Greece.

Tuesday, I enjoyed a potluck lunch with a group of new friends. We said good-bye to Sherry that was headed back to the states as she waits for her visa to be renewed.  The food was fabulous and it has been a real treat to be included with these sweet ladies.  We then met for our weekly walk up and down the steps of Bern.

Wednesday was extra fun because the three other ladies that moved here with Keith's company- Kelly, Becky, and Uma, as well as my friends Monique and Lori all went to lunch.  We talked for two hours as we ate and I didn't want it to end.  Later that evening Keith, Josh, and I met the Pratisto's at the Bundesplatz and we watched the laser show that was quite impressive.

So you would think that after three fun days I could get through one day of cooking, cleaning, and laundry.  But it wasn't housework that made me homesick, even though my chores are much more laborious here.  It was skyping with my different family members all gathered for Thanksgiving and being away from my grand kids that made my want to throw this adventure away and run home. 

Friday, I was in charge of a Thanksgiving dinner for the Relief Society.  Things like this are much more complicated when you don't have a car, need to get food to the church, need to buy a lot of groceries, and so on.  

Saturday we picked Josh up after his Primary program practice and headed for the trains.  We told the kids to pick a place as we were ready for a new adventure.  They picked Zurich because they had never spent any time there and there was a train headed that way in three minutes.  We had a great afternoon in Zurich.  Stopped at a stand for raclette.  And ended the day at the Apple Store in Zurich where we bought a computer to replace the one we had sold when we moved.  It was not easy to carry it to the train, to the tram stop. and then to our flat.

Raclette - Fast Food in Switzerland

Sunday our ward had their primary program and Josh gave the part he had written in German.  It was amazing.  There are only nine kids in the primary but they sounded so beautiful and when they sang a verse of "I am a Child of God" in English I lost it.  Actually I had lost it before then, but that really made me cry.

Sunday afternoon the Brady's invited us and the Hale's over for Thanksgiving.  This was the first time in three and a half days that the homesickness subsided and I started thinking I might survive our time here.  We had a delicious meal and then played cards for hours.  It was a ton of fun.