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freitag favorites + freedom

Well, I’ve done it. German B1 is complete. I seriously surprised myself with my result this time as I really had negative feelings about the whole test experience, but now I just have to find the courage to keep speaking more and more. Luckily my teacher wants to also improve her English so we will start a so-called “tandem” in January and help each other, probably speaking English one week and then German the next. And I also have to force to speak more at work instead of defaulting to English, which is probably the biggest challenge. Read more

and the sheep graze

Apparently the arrival of warm late Spring weather also means it is time for the flowers to bloom and the sheep to graze in Friedhof Manegg. I stopped to say hi (and baa at them like a crazy girl) on my last run a few weeks ago. They looked happy. One lamb scampered in circles around the others and it made me realize one of the things I like most about Zürich so far: our proximity to farm animals. Read more

on routine

I thrive on a good routine. Some of my best times are when I’m busiest and I always get more done when my daily schedule is full. For the last few years, I’ve struggled with my routine. Once I finished work at Zango in April 2009, the monotony of continued job searching really set in and I clung to the enjoyable parts of my schedule I could make more routine–classes at the gym, running, church, and time with family and friends. Every so often my schedule would be readjusted for occasional contract work and I excitedly looked forward to getting dressed earlier in the morning in something besides lounge pants and cozy sweatshirts (and something to keep from getting too attached to elastic waistbands). Read more

speerstrasse sights

One of the main reasons I started this blog was so that I could more easily share photos and anecdotes about adapting to life in Switzerland with all of you. This post is for my dad, who has already asked multiple times to see more of my neighborhood. So, on my post-run walk to the local Coop grocery store a few days ago I took these photos. Read more