I had a hard time in the beginning (this being Friday morning,) as I had only met Eilanne twice before, and her children, Angus and Reeve, once. (Now that I think about it, my whole experience in Switzerland has been full of weird introductions...case in point: the first time I met Ricco was on Friday night. He came bursting through his front door, arms clutching a briefcase, several bags of groceries and a bottle wine, only to find a strange American girl setting his kitchen table and spearing boiled potatoes with a cleaver. The poor man took it very well, all things considered.) But, as I had no time to dwell on the awkwardness of it all, (potato-spearing and kid-calming and bottle-opening and fire-starting leaving little room for more than a hello and a handshake) Ricco and I seemed to get on capitally from the start.
After meeting, cooking for, and getting the lay of the land from Ricco, he and Eilanne took off on a holiday in Lugano, leaving their home and their children in the hands of a relative stranger who was more than a little apprehensive. (After being warned about some of the antics the twins sometimes get up to I was beginning to think three days might just kill me.) However, it turned out that I spent a truly wonderful long weekend cooking for two relatively compliant kids with adorable semi-Scottish accents, watching a good deal of BBC--albeit kid's telly, but I'll take what I can get in English--hiking, drinking copious amount of tea, playing football with Angus, having tea parties with Reeve, making snow-angels, navigating a 90-year-old kitchen stove and having a positively grand time all the while.
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| The aforementioned stove. It took some getting use to :) |
Indeed, I think Saturday night will be one for the history books, though it was by no means an extraordinary evening. In a quite old house in rural Switzerland, with Angus and Reeve asleep upstairs and my 6th mug of Earl Grey warming my hands, I curled up on the couch near a popping fire and watched To Kill A Mockingbird. I know it doesn't sound like much, but it really felt like renewal to me. In those few hours I unearthed pure bliss. If only such simple pleasures could be distilled and captured like decanted wine. Then would not life be perfect?
Needless to say, I was almost disappointed to leave Flims behind me in the morning, so pleasant was my stay. Yet in addition to the respite afforded me by my weekend away from Jamie and Raina, I also learned a little something. As I have very little experience of my own when it comes to childcare, it was interesting for me to watch and interact with a new family after spending so much time in the company of one set of parents and one group of kids. I'm sure that for most people this next observation will produce a resounding "duh!" but for me it really was a revelation: no matter where you are or who you're with, kids will be kids, and, even more importantly, moms will be moms. And in light of the former, thank god for the latter!
And as I still consider myself rather child-like in many respects, I shall use myself to illustrate, for after having met me only twice before, Elianne met me at the bus stop in Flims on Friday morning, scolded me for my lack of a warm scarf and promptly produced an extra from her magical-Mom bag.
Moms, huh?
Really though, her actions and general openness to me as well as the unending kindness and hospitality of all my Swiss hosts has made all the difference in the world. I feel as though I've discovered a new kind of home here. I shall be sad to leave it behind.
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