Yesterday and today I have been focused on working on wedding details.
One of the luxuries of traveling with my laptop has been the ability to access my library2go account. If you don't know it is the Oregon electronic library. I can listen to audio books from my laptop or my iPod. I have been listening to Louisa Alcott's Little Woman as I worked on hand writing all of my wedding invitations and managing my Excel invite database. It has been a little meditative to listen to this book while I work. It has been reminding me about the importance of being grateful, and the rewarding nature of work.
I've never been away from home for such a long time as all of this, and I'm not working, in fact I'm currently unemployed. I don't have a home to tend, or local friendships to foster. I could be putting all my energy into packing in as many tourist activities as possible. But it is a lonely life being a tourist on your own. Taking it all in, recreating every day, is exhausting in its own way, and loses its luster quicker than you might think. If this is a vision of what retirement will be, I think you will find me working until I drop. Before you think I'm lamenting being in such a beautiful place, I'm not I promise! What I'm really trying to say is that I'm thankful for the work I have brought with me, and the work I created in keeping this blog. I'm grateful for the opportunity to be productive.
Every morning I sit in the hotel lobby on the free internet and I have felt like a nuisance. I think I might be the only guest that doesn't go to work every morning. I have felt like a mooch. But not today, and I’ve been down here much longer than normal. The difference? Well it may be that I've let the Swiss pace of life replace my American sense of hustle. Or it may be that I feel like I'm entitled to be in a space that allows me to create something. Something to take home from this experience: it is so easy to focus on the long list of things to get done that it is easy to miss the joy in simply being able to do. I find myself more interested in work than relaxing as much as I can. So I'm spending two days in a beautiful new place, sitting in the hotel and I'm grateful every minute of it. As for tomorrow, Rheinfall and Castles!!!! (The laptop will be in the room so don’t expect an update until Monday or so.)
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Hi, Margaret! I'm enjoying your blog...'Can't wait to hear about the castles and waterfalls. What are the people like there? How are you being treated?
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Most people are nice. People seem to tolerate that Jesse and I don't speek German. Even if we did speak it the language here is a dialect called Swiss German and most German speakers don't understand it. For the most part people have been helpful and friendly, giving us directions and help as best they can. Jesse noticed that at work people get frustrated, or annoyed with the way he speaks. People are really direct here, and when he trys to be polite it just makes people uncomfortable. Less is more I guess. So many languages, and so many cultures here I guess we are bound to step on some toes. I found the hotel staff quite gruff, and one of them down-right rude. On Sundays most things are closed and we had a hard time finding something to eat, so we returned to the hotel restarant which is advertised as being open until 10pm on Sundays. When we asked to be seated for dinner he raised his voice and tells us Neich!(No) and then something we could not understand, eventhough he speaks english. So um yeah, glad we left the next morning. Everyone else has been helpful and kind however. It helps that we know please, thank you, your welcome, and do you speak english.
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