Guten Rutsch!

Awaiting the new year.  Full of soup, avoiding laundry, with the contract for my new flat signed and ready to send off.  Having a nice time over here in Switzerland, even though our puzzle was missing a piece.  Check out those Alps. 

Guten Rutsch, btw, means Happy Sliding (as in, into the new year). Makes me think of a giant toboggan to the future. 

Weihnachtszeit (Christmastime)

It's been a while.  (Actually, it's been even longer.  I wrote this over a week ago. Whoops.)  I'll mostly post pictures, since my wit seems to decrease along with the daylight.  Good news, it's only going to start getting lighter from here on out, which means pithy Megan will be back soon.  Theoretically.  Some things happened in the past month.  I rode a giant Ferris wheel at one of the festive Christmas fairs Basel sets up.  It was really nice.  Also I drank glühwein, which turned my tongue purple.  I kept it a secret but maybe it was obvious to everyone.  I hope I never know the truth, if it's that.

My orchid has decided to stay alive a while longer, apparently I'm doing something right.

An orange peel got snowed on, along with everything else.

This is a tree in Winterthur.  They got way more snow than we did in Basel.  I had to carry my bass through 4 inches of slush.  It wasn't ideal.  Also my shoes are not entirely waterproof.  Alas.

 orchard

Simone wonders why I'm dallying.  Shuko and Zin Young are oblivious.  I stayed the night at Simone's house, which is in the country just outside of Zürich, but only 20 minutes by bus/train from the city center.  She's got this view from her window:

Wow!  Also there are 15 Icelandic ponies down the road a bit.  And some dairy cows.  And quite a lot of quiet. 
My mom arrives in a day and a half.  She brings with her many things from the glorious land of the United States, including a pair of gloves sent by the Jacksons, as a response to what I thought was a fairly amusing photo series, Floppy Mittens:

I'm also looking forward to some tacos, tomatillos in a can, blades for my x-acto knife, jalapeno-stuffed olives (she swears they're good), a new swimsuit, etc.  And a haircut.  And her souffle recipe.  And family for the holidays!  I'm working on Christmas, but that doesn't mean we're not going to have a good time.

***

zürich at night

Indeed, we ended up having quite a nice time, especially at dinner after my last show in a mysteriously windy and bone-chillingly cold church.  Some fun facts about the Grossmünster: its twin domes have been compared to pepper mills (by that great old jerk, Richard Wagner); it was stripped of all interior decoration (and perhaps insulation and heaters?) during the Reformation (since the Reformers didn't seem to want to have any fun); and it's got these lovely stained-glass windows made by Sigmar Polke out of agate.  See photo.  In addition, there's a special room in the back where lots of old books are kept:

Maybe because he knew the cold was nearly unbearable, the director baked us these little buttery bread things shaped like birds.  Cute!  And delicious.  Those are raisin eyes.  I enjoyed eating them.  My mom ate the little tail part.

Including that last performance on Christmas (while it snowed enthusiastically outside) I've played the piece - Weihnachtsoratorium, the Christmas Oratorio, by Bach - a total of 5 times, not counting rehearsals, with two different groups.  I've gotta say, it's a nice piece and all, but I prefer the Nutcracker.  Two hours of dancing candy!  And I like that the Nutcracker doesn't include a strong religious message.  It's inclusive, especially if you ignore that one part about the giant Christmas tree.  And seriously, who *hasn't* dreamed about dancing candy at one point or another?

Anyhow.  Tonight was the last performance of the Bach.  No more concerts for 2010!  I'm so excited I can't persuade myself to go to bed.  Soon.  Tomorrow we've got some sight-seeing to look forward to, and also some black beans to cook, which will, post haste, be turned into taco-filler.  TACOS TACOS TACOS.


Happy days getting longer, everyone!

miraculous discovery

In these:

I found these:

And this note:
"Hi Megan, have some Christmas cookies (Grietzli!) down there in the boxes

I made them with my sister"

Yes, alright, don't mind if I do.

real snow

I just took this picture, walking home at half past twelve.  I had forgotten what it was like to be out in the snow late at night.  It's not dark, really, and it's special.  The snow!  It snowed all day.  Everything was so beautiful.  I think maybe I can bear the cold, when it's so lovely outside. 

I took some pictures during the day, too, though not many.  Some boys having a snowball fight (I threw a few snowballs of my own, later, I couldn't resist, including at a friend who quickly opened her umbrella and deflected my loose snow-grenade - so crafty!), and the courtyard at the Schola.

 Blue-hat lobbed a good one, you can see it hurtling toward Hooded-jacket.

Not one of these bikes is my dear Cilo, of course.

If you can bear it, here's a little video I took while walking through the Matthäusplatz on my way home tonight.  Then I went up Oetlingerstrasse, past the bakery, past Matthäuskirche, and the book store with the typewriters in the window, and the boy who has his painting studio next to the book store.  He was working late.