American TV

As most of you know, it's playoff season, basketball season, and new rounds of shows are beginning.

Not here.  American football and basketball are kind of hard to come by.  There are two English speaking bars here in Geneva that have games on, but it's an expensive outing.

We have opted to not purchase cable in Geneva because:
1.  We're not fluent in French, German, Italian, etc.
2.  It's expensive.
3.  The few English channels that are available don't seem worth it.  British humor just doesn't translate to us.

We do have the free public stations that we watch sometimes:
BBC - A hot mess
CNN - I'm sick of it.  If I hear Richard Quest's voice anymore, I'll develop an neurotic disorder.
CNBC - I'm confident I can trade stocks and manage hedge funds now.  Entertaining, but it gets old.
MTV - It's in French and German...
Animal Channel - It's in French and I'll listen to it when I'm doing stuff around the apartment.  Easy French lesson.
25 other channels - We can't understand any of them... at all.

So, how do we try to stay on top of all the happenings in the good ole USA?
Hulu?  Nope.  Can't get it.
Network websites (ABC, NBC, etc.) to see reruns?  Nope.  Can't get those either.
ESPN live games?  No again.

"We're sorry, but the episode you selected is not available in your location."

We found Slingbox.

I know.  It sounds like some sort of medical or torture device.  Here's how it works:

That makes it crystal clear right?

1. Bought the Singbox at Best Buy for $300.

2.  We found a family member who had a spare bedroom (with power, cable, and internet hookups within a 6 inch radius) and asked if the Slingbox could live with them while we were away.

3.  Hook up.  Slingbox > Cable & Internet > Slingbox online account > Swiss laptops (or wherever we are) > Our TV if we want.  This took no less than 84 hours and a couple phone calls to customer service.  We also had to divulge our embarrassing password to customer service. 

4.  Tested it.  Fuzzy, but it's in English and we get the gist.  So exciting!

It's a slight pain to setup on the tv, so we don't do it everyday.  At least we can access American shows from time to time.. good to know we have it.  Also, there is an obvious issue with time.  We are six hours ahead of where our Slingbox lives, so most of the games we want to watch air while we're snoozing.  There have been a few late nights, but I've found that our dedication to watching most of the games has dwindled.  Waking up from 2am - 4am to watch a game isn't that appealing.

And that's how we watch American tv.  

Au revoir!

US Trip: More KY Shenanigans

Alright, this is seriously the last post for our US trip... which by the way was in AUGUST.  Wow, I'm late.  I'm slightly disappointed at how many pictures I didn't take.  Partially because the camera died a couple times and also I might have been too busy relaxing.   

First up, optometrist appointment at Costco.  Yep.  That's right.  We don't even try over here because it's too much to think about and I don't know how to say that I'm literally as blind as a bat in French.  I use sonar to navigate without my contacts or coke bottle glasses.  After being reprimanded for sleeping in my contacts and told I was a perfect candidate for Lasik (sweet), I stumbled out to see my mother & sister-in-law looking like this...

  

Eyes dilated to see if my retinas are detached yet.  He said they look looked perfect!  Woohoo!  With -7.5 vision, there's no telling what's going on inside of my eyeballs.  Sorry.  This is creepy.  

Now to see our nephews!!!  Getting home from school...

Tear.  They're getting so big!  Not the school bus!  It's not time!

Now for Gaga's birthday celebration!  The boys played us some jams, we had an amazing dinner, cake pops, hung out, wrestled, played tag, hide and seek, and played some iPad games.  We forgot how much energy is packed into those little bodies.  

The next day, we went to the zoo.

How cute is this?!

We happened to pass by a Krispy Kreme on our way home (while Adam and T played golf.)  I don't remember it being on purpose.  Just a random trip.  It just so happened to be 'hot and fresh' time when you can watch those little circles of heaven being made and drowned in glaze.  Oh.  My.  

 I know C.  I feel the same way about Krispy Kreme.  Makes you feel all warm and cozy.  

At my parent's house:  Good company, perfect weather, pool time, wine, a ton of food, some outdoor naps  sunsets, and a mentally disturbed husky named Jayden (our dog niece.)

 

Lake time!  Woohoo!  Here's what the boys did upon arrival.... rock throwing.  Of course.  There were a few close calls... those little arms aren't entirely accurate despite being able to pick up large boulders.  Adam is included in this description.

Jumping off of the double-decker pontune boat.  There might have been some pushing by the little guy in the bright green life jacket.  He doesn't look guilty at all.

 Uncle Adam also did a back-flop at one point that resulted in severe peeling (on the lower back) two weeks later.  Not a sunburn.  A serious back-flop.  The noise it made was incredible.

We also did some skiing & wake boarding.  No near fatal head injuries for me this time.  I still felt the need for a helmet on the wake board.  That thing is dangerous.  L might be the most impressive skier I've ever seen.  She put us to shame.

A couple more cute shots of the youngest nephew.  He should be a Gap kids model.  He's got the leg pose down and everything.

Dinner with Adam's dad and my parents. :)

Now to Cincinnati to see some friends.  We went to dinner with J & J (who have a little one on the way next month!) then met S & S for drinks after.  Such a great time! 

 

Miss you girls!!!  J (gray shirt) has a baby in there.  Can't tell right?  Jealous.  I can only hope I don't grow to be the size of a small whale when my time comes.  

Out with more friends.  Unfortunately, this is the only picture I could get before the camera died.  :(  It's a pretty good one though.  Took us right back to the college days.

Now back to Switzerland. Goodbye US!  See you in December.  It would be great if the weather could be just as nice then, but we all know it's going to be horrid.

Here's the loot we were able to bring back with us.  It was like Christmas getting it all out.  

 Deodorant (we've heard it's sub-par here), makeup, hairspray, shower curtain (they're SOOO expensive here), cd's, new dog collars & leashes, computer speakers, lunchbox, loofah's, toothbrushes, toothpaste, Tylenol, hair product, Waterpik, contact solution (also very expensive here), contacts, notebooks, taco seasoning, Italian dressing mix, Sour Patch kids, Chocolate chips (nowhere to be found here), Ranch mix, Funfetti cake & icing, Lipton soup mix, Paula Dean bread, Pop-Tarts, and a couple of other random things.... like an iPad!!!  Love it.

I have to say the most exciting thing I've used so far has been the taco seasoning.  We really miss Mexican food.  :(   That's so sad.

Au revoir!

Up a river... with paddles.

I can't believe I still haven't finished blogging about our US trip.  :[  

We were in Kentucky for a couple of weeks after Phoenix.  My mom wanted to do something adventurous and crazy, so she booked us on a wild canoe trip.  It was anything but wild.  It took us about twenty-one hours to paddle 6 miles.  The river was barely moving and we had to paddle. A lot.  Actually, it was more paddling than I had anticipated.  I like to be lazy in a boat or any sort of watercraft... hence my love for the 'lazy river.'  Here's a recap:

Ready for some rapids!  Life jackets?  Check.

'A' still felt the need to wear her life jacket.

Our motor. 

Mom & Dad...  I don't think Mom even picked up an oar that day.

Haha.. just kidding Mom.

Hanging on tight.  The rapids were intense.

A & B

Some beautiful and creepy (cave) scenery.

A friend.  This thing hung out next to me (and on me) ALL day.  Luckily he didn't bite.

Future brother-in-law bonding.  

 This picture makes it seem like we were nice all day.  There was a lot of bumper boating, racing, and heckling going on.

Mom trying to take pictures.  She forgot to delete them from my camera.  Guess she'll learn for next time.

                                   

Certain people made fun of my 'lack of rowing', but here is a prime example of my hard work. 

I think we were floating backwards at this point.  This may or may not have been when we realized we had only gone a mile and it had been three hours.  5 more to go.  

Next time we're bringing a sail, a boombox, and a margarita machine.

B entertained us by falling in at one point.  ALso, A looks naked, but she's not.

 Relaxing.  It was exhausting rowing, tanning (you can see I got a great tan), and eating snacks.

Snack break #27.  Those are shorts B is wearing... not a pencil skirt.

Mom & Dad.  

Overall, a great day of sun, mosquitoes, snacks, and hanging out making fun of each other.  :)  Love and miss you guys!  

Au revoir!

Dear Phoenix, We miss you.

Our recent trip to the US started off with four days in Phoenix.  As I already mentioned, our friend George picked us up and we stayed at his house, which is conveniently located close to the lazy river.  This trip made us realize how much we've missed Phoenix... and just the US in general.  Sunny 364 days a year (in leap years), hot (which we love), amazing restaurant selection, shopping galore, beautiful scenery, and not to mention... great friends!  Here are some highlights of our trip.

First things first...  bonjour Target!

 I forgot to bring sandals, so I had to hit up Target before pool time.  Adam thinks it was on purpose, but it wasn't.  I may have gone overboard though.  Coming from Switzerland, everything just seemed like a steal.  I had to talk myself out of buying a printer and a large bookshelf that were on sale.  Sandals it was... plus three bags of 'necessary' purchases.  I'm not gonna lie, I did have a little bit of anxiety when I walked in.  I've become accustomed to having one or two options for a product here.  If you go to the grocery to buy ketchup, there's one brand.  Target stocks close to 56 types/brands of ketchup.  Little overwhelming.  

I may have said 'bonjour' to the checkout lady too.   

I struggled a little bit reverting back to dollars.  Actually counting it out was harder than I thought it would be.  I found myself looking for the 20 and 50 cent coins.  What a weirdo, right?    

Onto more fun things...

Lazy river day at the Westin Kierland.  I looked forward to this for months.

  

                          

                                                                            Lifeguard stand... or Swiss flag?  

  

Our friend L.

Pool volleyball.  Some intense competition that involved paying a small child for ball retrieval... with a 'smoothie' (virgin strawberry daiquari.)  I'm horrible so hung out on a crocodile raft and drank frilly drinks.  

Waterslide!!!  We were the only adults in line.  Also, we were sad to see that we missed most of the activities because we were at the lazy river.  I would have loved frozen yogurt happy hour, the cannon ball contest, and snow cones. 

We rented a couple villas.  So nice to sleep in a giant comfy American bed (that doesn't involve pushing two twin size pieces of pillowtop-plywood together)!!!  Not to mention the bathroom that was as big as our Swiss living room.  

George made some Jersey-style sloppy joes for dinner!  I am still having withdraws from Nana's tortilla chips.  :(

Oh, we miss this view.  

No scorpion sightings thank goodness, but we did see some ducks.  Lots of ducks.

Out at Primebar in Scottsdale.  

Mojo Yogurt.  Adam would say I have a slight addiction to frozen yogurt.

The camera died and we weren't able to get Sunday pictures... boo.  We went back to our church, Paradise Valley Community Church, in the morning and then to Olive Garden with friends afterwards.  I can't remember the last time I drank so much sweet tea.  We're so glad we got to see everyone... even a little cutie named Charlotte, who we didn't get to meet before we left.
 

  

That night we went to the Reed's house for some drinks and dessert with more friends.  It was so great catching up and getting to see another new baby and two kiddos who have almost doubled in size in six months!  Thanks for having us over K & C!     

Wide roads!  With English signs and trucks.  No crazy mopeds and constant honking.

 Checking on the house... we miss it.  I got teary eyed when I noticed our walk-in closets... and carpet.  I have yet to go into an apartment over here that has carpet.  Didn't realize it until we visited.  :(

We've missed Mexican food (whether it's Chipotle or authentic Mexican).  

Ginormous grocery stores!  We forgot how fun it was to DRIVE to the grocery.  This is the one we used to go to.  They renovated it and now it's a little out of control... free valet, covered parking, florist, library, sushi station, restaurant, furniture, bank, insane food selection, etc.  It was kind of like visiting Disneyland. 

 We miss the misters everywhere.

Movies!!!  They don't cost $25 per person?!

 More yogurt!  This time with a younger crowd.  Several of my former students (and moms) met me out for yogurt after their first day of school.  I miss my kiddos so much!  They've gotten so big. 

Harper!  Our friends L & B had their little girl while we were in town.  So glad we could meet her.

Mom:  don't get any ideas. 

One of our favorite breakfast places.  Nom nom nom!

Another favorite.

 

Books in English!!!  How exciting.  I did buy a new teaching book.  Nerd alert.  

  

Night before we left...

Adam went to J &L's to help stuff fundraising envelopes for their ministry.  They're moving to Africa soon! We're glad we got to see them and their little girl while we were back.  Hopefully we'll meet up in Europe when they do their French language training.  See their blog.  

While Adam went to J & L's, I met two friends R & S (taught with them) for drinks after their second day of school... such troopers.  I can't believe they had enough energy for a short visit.  Miss you guys so much!  One day we'll be together again!  :)  I can't find the picture we took, but found an older one... 

Sand bar + margaritas  + 2 great friends = awesome.

We had such a wonderful visit to Phoenix and did a lot in four days.  Saw most of our friends, ate way too much food, and enjoyed the hot summer weather.  We were completely exhausted by the time we headed to Kentucky.

Goodbye Phoenix.  See you next year!

Au revoir!