I heart Ikea (and weeney)

...day 4...

Since I've done a lot since the last time I posted I think I'll use the same format as before:

Sunday - Slept, all day. Piss off Kyle and let me sleep... We got into Zürich at about 8 and went straight to the hotel (which was another nightmare...I'm SOOO glad to not be staying in hotels anymore!!). I told Kyle I was going to take a 'nap' and then we could do something. He couldn't sleep so he got up and showered then woke me up to see if I wanted to do the same, I didn't. He left for a while and came back at noon to see if I wanted to get up, I didn't. He left again to take the trams to the loft and work and stuff and then came back to see if I wanted to get up about 2, I didn't. So, he turned on the tv (rather loudly I might add) and proceeded to watch 'friends' in German until I got so annoyed I had to get up. We finally left the hotel about 5 and took the tram to our loft to see how close it was to things (it's pretty dang close) and then decided to eat at one of the only places that is open on Sundays - the China Inn. We had some very yummy sweet and sour chicken and some acceptable curry chicken along with 2 bottle of mineral water and some Camille tea (that was for Kyle, no, I'm serious). We spent $85.

Monday - Slept, again, until like 12 noon. Ursula (our relocation lady) called at 12 and it woke me up. We got ready then had a lovely lunch of chicken McNuggets and Coca Cola Light. At 3:30 we met with Ursula to go to the registration office so that we could become LEGAL aliens. (We diverted crisis b/c although our marriage license was left at home Kyle had a PDF copy on his computer that he printed out - that stuff would never fly in the U.S. of A.) Then, we went and took possession of our loft, we did our walk through with Ursula and this really creepy old Swiss guy who's long gray hair was flying all over the place - he really reminded me of that picture of Einstein that is in like every science class ever. Alright, so we have a loft but nothing to put in it. So we went back to the hotel and took a walk down Bohnhofstrasse (the Rodeo Drive of Zürich). After I spent $80 on a new hair dryer at Coop City (Coop City is like their equivalent to Wal-mart although Wal-mart could eat Coop City for a snack in one bite) Kyle took me out for a nice dinner of chicken McNuggets and Coca Cola Light (yes again) but this time we got McFlurrys - again, they were like ice cream shots. Put 2 or 3 of those suckers together and you would get one of our smalls. Back to the hotel and to sleep.

Tuesday - Our rental furniture was delivered at 8 am (well, the guys got lost so it was really 8:45). The first thing we did was see if we could hack into someone's internet. Eureka (and thank you Weeney, whoever you are)!The furniture that we rented is REALLY nice. (I'm glad I don't own it though, I really don't like leather. I sat on it in the cold weather and it took me about 4 days to warm back up.) Absolutely everything was from Ikea and I find that hilarious! After the mover guys left I was still cold from sitting on the fake leather sofa that I thought I would get under a blanket...that just happened to be on the bed they delivered...and it took me 3 hours to get warm...with my eyes closed. About 3 pm we headed off to the Ikea (this story's so good it needs it's own paragraph):

We decide to walk to the train station in Wollishofen and then take the train into the Hauptbahnhof (the main train station in Zurich - luckily it's abbreviated 'HB' on all of the signs). There we upgraded our tickets from 1 zone to 2 and then got on a train to go to Dietikon. After walking around Dietikon for what felt like an hour and not finding any of the streets that were on our trusty mapquest map. We realized we needed to be in Dietlikon....yeah, look at that for like 45 minutes and tell me if you see the difference. Ok, back on the train (after we found the station). We went back to Zurich (25 minutes) then out to Dietlikon (another 25 minutes), FINALLY we got to the Ikea. IKEA IS THE HAPPIEST PLACE ON EARTH (forget it WDW you've been outdone!). We spent the next 3 hours walking around Ikea salivating at the wonders; I guess when I say 'we' I'm using the royal tense. We had Swedish meatballs in the Ikea Cafe along with Cola Light (obviously not Coca Cola Light but it gave me the energy to get through the rest of the store) and didn't buy a single thing...yes, thats right...but thats another story all together...

When we got home we went over and met our neighbor, Keith. (Flo, his wife, is in the states right now.) He's very nice and I look forward to getting to know both of them better. Then straight to bed! (After about 4 hours of unpacking and misc. stuff)

Wednesday - Again, I slept in until about noon. Kyle things I'm being lazy and not trying to get over my jet lag. I'm saying that it's because I haven't slept more then 4 hours a night for the last month + AND I got physically sick when the movers were here on Tuesday; I've been long over jet lag now I just need to catch up! Kyle went and borrowed a power cord from a guy he's going to work with since his personal laptop had run out of battery and I was going through blog/facebook withdrawal. Finally about 3 I took a shower and generally got ready to leave the house. After we re-realized that we had no food we went to the grocery store.

Take 1 - Walk up the street to the store. Realize that to get a cart you have to pay 2 CHF (you get it back when you return the cart). Kyle didn't bring any money. Leave store. Walk back down the street to get money.

Take 2 - Walk up the street. Return to previously mention Denner Grocery store (think Aldi). Purchase shopping cart. Begin shopping. Realize they don't accept credit cards. Replace food items. Replace cart and retrieve money. Leave Denner.

Take 3 - Walk across the street to the Megros (think Price Chopper only the size of a QT). Purchase shopping cart. Begin shopping. Get into everyone's way and can only assume they are whispering profanities under their breaths as the 'stupid Americans' are trying to figure out which milk (milch) is skim based on the number of calories since they can't read the labels. Only ad items to the cart that are either from America or we can see the contents of the container from the outside. Check out - don't have a bag to put the items in so purchase a bag. Return cart. Return home.

Ok. That's all the Swiss stuff I can take for one day. I was thinking about this on the way home. They use crazy re-enforcement to get people to do the right thing. If I really wanted that shopping cart 2 CHF would not make me put it back, and really. If I already stole the shopping cart one quick blow with a hammer would knock that pay contraption right off and I could get my money back.

Also, they try to recycle EVERYTHING. In order to get you to recycle you have to pay like $2 for a trash bag but recycling is free. Paper and Cardboard is bundled and picked up 2 time a month. There are tin, glass, and plastic recycle bins EVERYWHERE. And a lot of things can be burned. The moral of the story is Americans are wasteful and already I can see it's going to be expensive being one (but I'll try to get better!).

More later! Ciao!