Swiss Family Stice: Christmas Carol Sing Along

Friday night was an exciting adventure. It was yet another learning lesson on what is reasonable to expect from children aged 0 to 4. That does not include sitting through a semi-church service/Christmas Carol sing along. This could have worked out okay, but I really think professional musicians (opera singers) have a very different concept of a sing along than I do. The words “sing along” to me, cannote a certain casualness or family friendliness. I should have known better when just before things got started and my kids were mildly running from one end of the church to the other (with a couple of other kids) and one of the leaders nervously asked me if maybe my kids needed to go downstairs to the play room.

I might have been more fully in mommy mode, but I had been asked to do a reading for the event. I was trying desperately to inch my way into functional adult mode, if only for a little while. And a little while is what it was. I was the first reader and as soon as I got back to my seat I was whisking Johanna to the back of the church in a desperate attempt to scrounge up a drink (come on, water fountain!!).

The majority of the rest of the event was spent either in the basement (yes, all 5 of us- Jack can't bear to be left out and Eli started to get fussy just as I got up to read so he only survived a few more minutes in the church) or at the back of the church where the kids were moderately less interrupting. FINALLY, the service wrapped up (there was way more readings and messages than I would have anticipated) and we got to eat some snacks. Snacks always make kids happy. This was a gathering of English speaking people so I don't remember anything terribly Swiss. Johanna and Eli fell asleep on the way home and despite having to carry them, I think both Kenny and I were pretty happy with that ending.

The next night we were invited out by some of Kenny's classmates to a Syrian restaurant. There are several students from various Arabic countries and they have claimed this restaurant as a piece of home and go there probably at least once a week. Leyla (student) even told me as much “when I am here, I feel like I am home.” I tried to learn a lesson from the previous night and fed the kids a snack at their normal supper time and packed activities (read-tablet computers). Things went so much more smoothly. And the best part: there was a bench so when Jo fell asleep an hour into the evening, there was a place for her to pass out :)

And as far as the restaurant, let me just say, if you are ever in St. Gallen and are tired of the traditional Swiss food, eat at Sahara. Sooooo good! Kebabs (meat on sword like skewers) hummus, stuffed grape leaves, tabbouleh, and all kinds of stuff that I have no idea what it was called. It was a really nice evening out with friends (who are kidless but get a kick out of our kids). I even saw more ice in one glass than I think I have seen my whole time here. It was someone's whiskey on the rocks.

A few other updates:

Took Eli to the doctor for shots. 18 lbs! And 25.5 inches. We took the opportunity to allow the kids a lunch out at McDonald's. I'm getting more comfortable with it. We are not there very often but it is probably the place where I feel the most foreign- it's the crowds and the ordering at the register- no opportunity to connect with the employee and get their empathy so they don't mind putting up with my English.

Eli is this close to crawling. As it is, he is doing the worm- going up on his knees and sliding down in the direction he wants to travel. (Update! Eli started crawling on Jan. 5 – yes, that is the day my parents went back to Illinois. I was talking to my sister and Kenny in the kitchen while looking at Eli who was on the floor in the living room. Mid-sentence I realize Eli is honest to goodness crawling!)

We also celebrated Christmas with Kenny's classmates at the Class Christmas party. This was put on by the Swiss, but was not foreign- food, drinks, a gift exchange among the classmates. My kids thoroughly enjoyed running up and down the hallway of the school.