Spring plans

I am starting to explore the city through its famous people and its biking routes.

"You should never curse anything that is falling from the skies."
I've recently read that in a book. I couldn't agree more, and yet Peter is telling me that I constantly complain about the weather...

seasons coming and going... or staying

Tired of the long winter I am desperately trying to bring spring inside...

While winter is still feeling quite comfortable outside

Christmas from the past

The other day I went out looking for some balls for the Christmas tree. Even though we decorated it mostly with things made by us, we wanted to put also a bit of the classical stuff on it. And to my greatest surprise I've found out that you can get from that type of decoration I remember from my childhood - the little mushrooms and balloons, and faces that I believe long disappeared in Bulgaria.
And they are obviously used - here on the tree in one of our offices.

party on the table

In my last Hungarian lesson I learned how to say on the table and at the table. It is so much easier in Bulgarian - the same expression for both situations. And while speaking Bulgarian you cannot make the silly (and to other people funny) mistake to put someone on the table while they are sitting at the table. So practical!
Those guys, however, were clearly having a party on the table.
At a Christmas market in Zurich.

This uncertainty and anxiety... Will it rain or not?
 

Poppy Flowers

They say your life today is an expression of your thinking yesterday. So true... A few months ago I was feeling exhausted with the constant travelling and trying to live two lives in two completely different places. While it can be certainly very enriching, it takes a lot of energy- energy to adjust, energy to take care of two homes, energy to transition between "here" and "there", not knowing anymore which is "here" and which is "there". I longed for some routine, waking up in the same bed, cooking in the same kitchen, having flowers in the balcony that would not die because there was no one to water them...
Thus, six weeks after I landed with my two suitcases, five weeks after I started my new job I feel like being at home in Zurich.
We have flowers in the balcony, bikes for the sunny days, and even a TV for the Euro 2012 :)

Two Sundays, two places, two passions

Last Sunday we went winter hiking to Melchsee-Frutt.

The initial idea was to rent snow shoes or sledges. However, once we reached there and saw the options for simple hiking, we decided to stick to it.

 

Our target was the food place at the end of this path.

And today is the second day of a working weekend as a heavy training season started.

My Good-bye to an Awesome Year

These days I notice that people naturally tend to look back to their experiences in the past year. Well, I also had a look at the endless folders with pictures in an attempt to remember some special moments. And one of the first pictures I came upon was this.

So, this is not going to be a post about what happened to me but rather about the discoveries I made last year.
To go back to the picture - this was one of the best books I've read - 'Kornel Esti' by Deszö Kosztolány. A friend gave it to me on the first day of summer holidays. There couldn't have been a better time to read this humorous and elegant collection of stories (or maybe a novel?)....

Then of course come all discoveries I make all the time in Switzerland - a world so different in its structure and orderliness. As I've found out many people write about their experiences in this special country. My preferences, however, go to Swiss Watching, which I find informative and pretty amusing. But OK, I couldn't miss sharing this.

Obviously in Switzerland it is possible to buy your ticket after you get off the train...

Then I found out how inspiring online learning could be.

I discovered the fun of skiing in Bansko and Switzerland.

...and wrote an article in a real travel blog.

My latest sports passion is aqua gym.

I discovered Hungarian cooking, and re-discovered cooking in general. My cooking book library is growing, and so is the quantity of tried out recipes.

 

And I discovered new joy in my job by shifting the focus to more creative training topics, such as Drawing simple graphics for presenting...

  ...or Using colours and images in presentations...

Now I am looking forward to a year at least that exciting and encouraging as 2011.

New Year Resolution #1

I managed to break my own record for not writing here. I've just realized it's been more than four months since I've last posted here. OK, I have to admit that I am tempted to say something as dull as "Time flies". And while these four months have certainly been quite busy for me, there has always been time to stop by here, which for one reason or another I haven't done. So, here it is - my first New Year resolution:

Take care of this space. And share more of the little and big wonders I experience every day.

Now it is official and strangely enough, I feel more committed. I wonder if it is the same with marriage...

Christmas decoration arrived early in the shops in Zurich

the weather that I did not report

I really love the Plovdiv Weather Report Project and I also like to contribute there! And during the last weeks I often made pictures that I intended to post later... but somehow never managed to do it within the same day they were taken. That's why I've decided to show here the pictures that didn't make it to the Plovdiv Weather Report - a backward look on the sun and the rain I've experienced in July.

A dog's bar in front of a restaurant in Zurich. It takes some climbing to reach the place, so refreshment is definitely needed in the heat...

An early wake-up, leaving for Frankfurt

Germany is preparing to watch the quarter-final Germany v Japan

A slight warm rain in Milan

Oranges instead of the typical sea views. Spotorno is a beautiful place at the Ligurian coast

On the train back to Zurich. Sea holidays are over...

BBQ in any weather

Suddenly it looks like autumn

Finally sun! For short though...

Cinema by the Zurich lake. The rain just stopped and the film will start soon...

Che cantare?

This song is on the radio and it brings back memories.

For the first time I heard it on the bus travelling to the airport in Vienna. We were leaving and it was a sad good-bye, with tears falling down...

Another memory - a completely different environment. I was in a cafe in Lugano with friends laughing, having fun... and then this song again! I had to find out who was singing.
I tried to ask the waiter in English. No success.
I asked the girl if she spoke French or Spanish (I had French and Spanish speaking friends there).
No.
I tried body language. She thought I said the music was too loud.
No, no, no...
Then she remembered Roberto working in the kitchen spoke some English, and went in looking for him. After a while she came back alone. No Roberto...
German?, I asked hopeless...
Oh, yes, another waiter knew some German.
The German speaking lady did not look very happy she had to deal with me but she was helpful. She took me to the player, took out the CD and showed it to me. Mystery solved!

As broken as this sounds, it would have been so easy if I had just remembered two simple Italian words that I know: "Che cantare?"

second attempt at skiing

Another blue slope for the records...
And after skiing jagermeister and chocolate cake... and a deserved beer for the instructor!