Day Two - Adventures in Navigation

Mary would be the first to tell you that navigation is not my strong suit. I am the queen of wrong turns and getting lost and having no sense of direction.

Nevertheless, I was tasked with taking Ceci to school this morning on the city bus. I downloaded the Google Maps view of the local area and marked with a star where Malorie's house was and where the school was. I don't have cell service when not connected to Wifi, but Malorie assured me it would be easy. 

She left me the correct amount of change to pay for bus fare and rattled off a long list of instructions for the day. Good thing I took notes, because they came in handy later. Siraj had left super early to catch his flight, and she left at 6:45am. I got dressed and brushed my teeth, and finished just in time because Ceci woke up and needed to use the toilet.

I made her breakfast, made myself some caffeinated tea to wake me up, and set about getting ready for school. Ceci is quite independent, and dressed herself and got ready to go out the door pretty much on her own. We talked about the last time I came to visit and take care of Ceci, but it was four years ago and she was only 2 years old and didn't remember. I showed her pictures though, and she pointed out how now Verena is wearing those things!

I woke up Mary before we left to catch the bus, and with unfortunate timing Verena woke up yelling for mommy just as we needed to head out the door. She seemed satisfied that Mary would be there to stay with her, so Ceci and I left just a few minutes later than planned to catch the bus. 

But then I realized I had forgotten a mask, so we went back home. 

And then I managed to make a wrong turn on the bus stop, but thankfully didn't go very far out of the way before course correcting - thank goodness I had downloaded the map!

Now we were cutting it close to make it to the bus. I asked Ceci if she could walk faster so we wouldn't miss the bus, and she took it VERY seriously and RAN the whole way there. I am definitely getting some exercise on this trip! We made it to the bus stop just in time, thank goodness, and boarded.

I put the exact amount of change Malorie had given me on the counter to buy a ticket, but something wasn't right. Yesterday we had practiced some common German phrases - Hello, Good Morning, Thank You - but none of these was very helpful when the bus driver wouldn't give me a ticket and tried explaining to me the problem. I guessed that the fare was not enough and handed her 20 extra francs. That seemed to do the trick and she gave me the change and a ticket. Whew! Ceci and I were sure having an adventure. In retrospect, I should have asked Ceci to translate!

Ceci was VERY excited that the front row seat on the bus was open and we rode to school. We had worn rain coats and carried umbrellas because the sky looked threatening, but it wasn't raining after all. I decided to walk home. 

Bus stop near Ceci's school

See the poles around this house? They are required to be put up weeks before new construction is started so everyone in the community knows the proposed roofline of the new build and has time to object.

On the way home I stopped at a grocery store and picked up some things for Mary - a vanilla cappuccino, juice, fresh bakery, and yogurt. I couldn't read any of the labels but it all looked good. Mary was in charge of Verena all day while Malorie and Siraj were away and I was working.

I thought this caption was funny: "bravery inside!"

Random baked goods...I couldn't read the labels but they looked scrumptious.

I did join Mary and Verena for lunch - we had so many leftovers to choose from and I finally remembered to take a photo of my plate.

Malorie ended up being held up at meetings for longer than anticipated, so Mary watched Verena for nine whole hours. It was a long day and at the end she was more than ready for a break from being responsible for a tiny person. Although this tiny person is rather adorable.

We all just wanted to spend the evening in and relax, so that's what we did. Tomorrow we plan to adventure to Zurich for the day while the Ceci and Verena are at school.