Sick in Basel

Ok I've been sick since Tuesday and now it's a full blown cold. I'm desperate for my own bed, matzah ball soup, and crappy (American) TV. And before you e-mail me and ask if I've been to the doctor, the answer is no, since there is nothing a doctor can do for a viral infection. You basically just have to feed a cold and starve a fever, but I definitely don't have a fever so...

I went out for a little while today to look at the following items which I need to buy for my new apartment since it's like buying a place!

- Fridge (the one in the purple kitchen is only a 1/2 fridge, so I'm buying a full size)
- Iron
- Blender
- (2) TVs (flat screen please - if you have any recommendations I'm leaning towards the Sony Bravia)
- Wardrobes (yes it's Europe and they don't do built in closests for the most part)
- Another bed (Ikea here I come)
- Light fixtures (there are literally wires hanging from the ceiling since light fixtures aren't part of what you get when you move in!)
- DVD player
- Stereo (since my one from home won't work here)
- Vacuum
- Microwave
- Hand mixer
- Lamps (I have to have the three I own changed over)
- ???

It's exhausting thinking about it! But think of the fun shopping I get to do (I get CHF for relocation for just these types of things and the more I get used from those moving back to the states, the more money I get to bank!)

I'll be home in August for 10 days.

Things that make me happy

1) Cotton PJ bottoms, with a tank top and fleece socks
2) Anything Elmo
3) Anything emperor penguin (gotta love my Waddle) the daddies take care of the eggs / babies while the mommies go for food in the Winter
4) Sapphire and tonic with two limes on a Spring night
5) The smell of gardenias in there air here in Basel
6) Children playing outside and the laughter that comes along with it
7) A good red wine
8) Passionate kisses
9) NYC after a winter storm
10) Central Park in the Fall or Winter
11) Meg Ryan (before the restylin) and Tom Hanks in just about any movie together
12) Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal in When Harry Met Sally (the last scene of the movie where Harry tears through the streets of NYC realizing what a fool he's been and wanting to tell Sally how much he loves her - sometimes it's better to give in when we find someone that just "gets us")
13) The feeling I get when I arrive at an airport passport in hand having booked a trip just two days earlier
14) Waking up to a foot of new snow overnight at a ski resort
15) Apre ski
16) Sitting on a beach in the Fall watching the sunset
17) Watching the sunrise after making love
18) Unexpected gifts or money
19) Volunteering or donating money
20) A job well done with or without praise
21) Seeing a friend that I haven't seen in a long time
22) Handwritten letter in the mail (nice to get something other than bills)
23) Internet / e-mail / text message is great, but nothing replaces a long telephone call
24) First kisses
25) A surprise ending to a movie
26) A movie that makes me laugh so hard I cry
27) My pillow, blankets, and bed
28) Music in my iPod that makes up the soundtrack of my life
29) Swiss chocolate with or without nuts
30) Coke slurpees from 7-11
31) Falling in love
32) Elton John songs from the early 70s
33) Sympathy for the Devil (Stones)
34) Let it Be (Beatles)
35) Forever Young (Dylan)
36) Skinny dipping
37) New York Superfudge Chunk or Phish Food Ben & Jerry's
38) General Hospital
39) Any episode of Sex and the City (and now the movie; I must see it in NYC with family / friends!)
40) fresh sheets
41) The way I feel after being adjusted
42) My crazy grandmother - I love her for how crazy she makes me and for how she accepts me for who I am
43) Flying into NYC on a clear night and being able to see the whole place - I never get tired of this
44) Going somewhere for the first time
45) The feeling I get before meeting up with someone I care about

The Girls

I bought the Sex and the City box set for myself as a birthday present this year and the "girls" have been keeping me company given the crap TV that I don't understand here (movie starts filming in the City mid-September and I can't frickin' wait!). I've probably seen every episode 100 times, but it never gets old!

In season two episode four, Miranda buys her own (first) co-op as a single woman. Every form she fills out she has to check the "single" box. Carrie says in the voice over, "Miranda checked more single female boxes that a gynecologist in NYC". I have missed that every time I've seen this episode. I was watching while eating dinner and nearly choked on my rice pilaf!

The City as a lover

Today was a gorgeous day in Basel. It didn't start out that way, but turned into it. A friend and I took a tram and bus to Ikea which is a big outing here. I know what you're thinking, the last time I was at Ikea (or somewhere Ikea like) I was setting up my first apartment about 15 years ago. But as they say "when in Rome". All of the ex-pats here buy stuff for their flats at Ikea, especially since there is no such thing as a built in closet here, so you have to buy wardrobes. Plus I will have a second bedroom in the new apartment. I will see it again on Monday and then (hopefully) sign the lease.

It's about two blocks from where I live now. It's in a very multicultural up and coming area, although also considered to be the "upscale" part of town. It's right near a really nice part, decent restaurants, grocery stores, etc.

It's been a nice weekend so far. This past week was wrought with jet lag and deeply missing NYC and people left behind, special people left behind. And this week is going to be insane with the potential for two approvals, one issue, and a partridge in a pear tree. Then I got to thinking about the City even more as I stared at the numerous photos I have around the apartment (I brought a piece of NYC over in my air shipment) it made me think about how NYC is like an intensely passionate lover. It can provide some of the greatest moments of your life and then break your heart in a million ways (over and over again), but you would never have it any other way.

Incidentally it doesn't get dark here in Basel until about 9.30 at night which is pretty neat. I remember the first time I was in Edmonton (an hour and a half north of Saskatchewan(sp?) and I was at the hotel and looked at the clock and it was 10.30 and the sun was just setting. I had to call the front desk to make sure it was really 10.30.

Raining again

Sitting in my living room with all of the doors and windows open watching the summer rain fall. The neat thing is that the rain doesn't come in so the windows can stay open. Additionally, as much as you all know I LOVE a/c, since most homes don't have it there is less pollution and therefore the air is cooler. In any case we don't get the kind of humidity here as we do back home which is a god-send. BUT when it was muggy at the office like today, there is nothing like a/c and they don't have it at work like we do in the U.S. Well in any case I digress.

Back at work today after two weeks out of the office, albeit one of the weeks was work, but it was OUT of the office which always makes a difference. Plus, doing large scale medical meetings like ASCO in Chicago gives the opportunities for teams to bond, ok ok, drink every night, but also come together as a cohesive team and really appreciate one each others skills. Did I mention I work in PR? :)

So alas, back to work and it was difficult to keep my mind engaged in documents, expense reports (F*$##$ing hate those things), meetings, etc. We have one meeting each month kind of like a homeroom type thing for all of the comms people based at headquarters and you literally want to take a pen and stab yourself in the carotid artery, which I know how do oddly enough from the days of working in the ER. Well actually there is one person that you want to stab in the carotid, but it wouldn't be worth the prison time so the next best thing is yourself. I swear if this meeting doesn't break me of the eyeball rolling habit I don't know what will. And my boss was dealing with a flight delay so I was all by my lonesome. Luckily she has even less patience than I do, yea yea, so two peas in a pod we are when it comes to "political correctness".

My thoughts today seemed to be left back in NY. Tomorrow I go looking at apartments for a more permanent residence, ayep you'll be updating address books one more time for good measure during my stay in Basel. So alas, I will be committing to at least a year here unless of course something or someone fabulous pries me away back to NY!

Peanut butter & Jelly

A scene from St. Elmo's fire comes to mind when Wendy (Mare Winningham) says to Billy (Rob Lowe) - her emotional nemesis up to that point in the movie. "Last night I went into the kitchen and made a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and it was my kitchen and my peanut butter and jelly and it was the BEST peanut butter and jelly sandwich I've ever had."

That said, I went grocery shopping at home in NYC. Yes grocery shopping (filled up a big old 24" suitcase), now before you roll your eyeballs at the sheer lunacy (would you expect anything less than that from me??) of it all, there are just certain things you can't get here! I don't eat peanut butter often, but when I do like tonite (I'm exhausted from traveling), I want my Skippy!

I haven't posted in quite some time. I've been back in the States for business and fun. Was in Chicago for about a week at a major medical (oncology) meeting. We announced quite a bit of data and I ran around like a headless chicken (ok and had a little fun at night after all it's Chi-town!) for most of the week. Was able to get some shopping in. I thought for sure that it would be around 100 degrees each day because that's what it's usually like whenever I'm there, but it was really only the first day. The rest were reasonable (although bogged down in allergies), and most afternoons we got a bout of rain, but otherwise absolutely a city I could see myself living in one day down the road. The architecture is amazing and they've even built lofts and brownstones near the congress center. And if I continue in this position down the road, I will go back to Chicago for ASCO for the next several years since they made a deal with the convention center!

When I landed in Chicago I immediately got out my trusty old U.S.-based Verizon (that doesn't work overseas) mobile phone and started text messaging friends. Sent messages to all of the important people in my life and everyone reacted so funny. People were so confused at getting a text message from my 301 phone.

But what I was truly excited about was going home to NYC. It didn't matter that I was up until 3.30 a.m. with friends at work partying leading up to my flight, I made the 9.30 from Chicago to LGA with bells on. I never ask for a window seat, but I did for this trip and when we circled the City I think my heart skipped a beat. I didn't realize just how much I missed home. Momentary hiccup in finding car service since there is ZERO organization at LGA! There were buses picking up full tour groups taking up all lanes and not allowing any cabs, cars, or limos out of the airport!

Driving into the City I just felt "right". Not sure how to articulate it, but just "right". I felt "right", I was home. You can all blame a close friend that lives in Germany for my text message addiction. He got me started on it about five years ago. Another friend calls me a little Japanese school girl since they all do it over there. As a matter of fact the U.S. is the last bastion of antiquated mobile phone users.

Did exactly what I wanted for the afternoon. Watched Sopranos on demand and then went out for sushi (my favorite Japonica in the East Village) with my parents. God it was good! The rest of the week was followed by shopping, more family, friends, movies, and spending time with special people in my life. I can't imagine having moved to Europe 20 or 30 years ago because people were truly cut off from their family, friends, home life etc., although the Internet is fantastic and makes life livable, it doesn't take the place of face-to-face contact.

With the exception of any last minute long weekend trips in Europe, it looks like I'll be staying put until towards the end of August when I'll come home again (and then again around Thanksgiving for my (gulp) 20-year high school reunion!). But I'm also aiming to move for August 1 so it won't be dull by any means. BUT I would love to have visitors. And yes you can come back again for skiing / boarding in the winter! It will be good to put some kind of routine into place and I start Pilates on Tuesday which I'm very excited about!

This trip home really cemented for me that I actually live in Europe. I've wanted to do this for so long and sometimes it seems very surreal. It's like how do you know you want to do something that you've never done before?

I accomplished a huge goal, like graduating from college, starting a business...something along those lines. It took going home to NYC for me to realize how huge this adventure really is, which seems weird, but as long as it remains an adventure or someone gives me a reason to come back, this is where I will remain at least until next August around the time my first lease runs out.

Thanks, as always, for stopping by!