I've arrived!

I arrived in Zuerich today about an hour ahead of schedule. The pilot was wonderfully Swiss, telling us exactly when we'd be taking off and landing and sure enough he was right on the money..."We will be taking off in one minute..." sure enough sixty seconds later....Everyone in the airport had dogs and Luk met me there and we took the tram to my living quarters. Zuerich is quite hilly and it was an adventure lugging over 130lbs of luggage up hills to the living situation :) I turned a lovely deep "rot." I took a shower, nap, then unpacked and Kaspar and Zino picked me up and took me to their home for dinner. Zuerich is such a lovely city I was truly shocked when I arrived and even more so on the ride from my room to Enge where the VBs live. Everything is green and the buildings are wonderfully quaint and lovely. There is foliage everywhere and huge old trees standing right by homes in downtown and commerical buildings. There are also many parks and the river/lake area called Bellevue is gorgeous and the mountain view from there is stunning. The trams run right along on the roads next to the cars. The dinner at the VB's was so LECKER (delicious) and such a pleasant experience. We ate outside in their rooftop garden fully equipped with pond and a higher plant life concentration than I've ever seen in such an area. Dinner was a long event involving lots of conversation and relaxing. We ate appetizers first of carrots, grape tomatoes, a white root plant, olives, a tasty seasoned nut/bar-ish mix, and breadsticks. Then we ate the freshest salad I've ever had in my life, it was delicious with lettuce that could have very well come from Helena's garden, in a light seasoned vinagrette. For the main course we ate seasoned potatoes, a celery puree, white asparagus with a vinegrette/ egg sause that was seasoned with fresh herbs, pork (the most tender and delicious I've ever had), grilled wurst, and an italian pickled salad thing made out of a wild plant that is related to the dandelion. After dinner Helena brewed a pot of tea and we had dessert! Dessert was a strawberry puree with fresh strawberries...the puree was made of yogurt, stawberries, sugar, and citrus juice...it was sooo lecker! And the best part was that after dinner you felt good the food was so light, so tasty, and really a three hour ordeal from end to end. The VB's are so very hospitable, and gave me a very extensive map of Zuerich, told me where to go to get my phone sitch figured out and where to open my bank account, and every phone number I could ever need to contact! I heard "If you ever have any problems or need anything don't hesitate..." at least three times this evening alone. They are such a beautiful family. I'm looking forward to/ I little nervous for my first day tomorrow, but now it is time to sleep.

Liebe aus Zueri :)