The Price of Beauty/Homeschooling...there’s an app for that

2 topics for the price of one today.  First up: the price of beauty.  Switzerland is a beautiful country...but wow.  Sticker shock.  When Ryan and I spent over $100 on 2 bags of groceries the first night, I chalked it up to the fact that we had to buy things at a gas station.  I’ve found out since that the normal stores aren’t much better.  Some of the highlights from yesterday’s grocery shopping trip: a $6 bag of marshmallows (we couldn’t have a bonfire without them according to my kids), $10/pound for chicken, $3 a dozen eggs, and a $5 box of 25 little ziplock bags.  We’ll be eating lot of pasta, rice, and potatoes in Switzerland. And rinsing out our ziplocks after we use them (okay, probably not. But we should).  And since tortillas are $5 a package, I might finally learn to make my own.

Ryan was told he should take a trip TO GERMANY to get his haircut.  Why?  Because what costs him about $35 in Germany will be closer to $65 here in Switzerland.  So we’re going to go to Germany on Saturday (about a 30 minute drive) to get Ryan a haircut and fill up our gas tank.

The diesel I use for my car was cheapest in Luxembourg at $1.70 a liter ($6.80 a gallon).  Here it is $2.15 ($8.60 a gallon).  If you want to do the math for a 16-gallon tank, you’ll be able to feel my pain.  I promise now to complain less about $3+ /gallon gas in the U.S.  

Luckily Ryan got a rail pass to go to work.  The crazy thing about the Swiss train?  They don’t collect a ticket or check your pass when you get on. No turnstile.  Nothing.  One of Ryan’s work colleagues said that they do occasionally check them, but Ryan hasn’t had his checked so far.  As yes, the trains do run like clockwork.  Swiss clockwork.

So enough on the shopping and on to topic #2.  Homeschooling.  My brother asked me if we do any kind of curriculum.  Um...no.  It’s a pretty loose system we’ve got going on.  Yesterday wasn’t so great, but things improved today since Mason became Andrew’s tutor and Katie became Chloe’s.  Pure genius.  Instead of having all four trying to get my attention, now they are self-sufficient.  Of course, Katie’s idea of being a “tutor” involves shopping for the best preschool apps for Chloe on her ipod.  Mason likes to make intricate worksheets for Andrew that he can do as homework later in the day (imagine my surprise when Andrew actually did them).

My niece Megan is doing a legit home-schooling course, which has been put on the back-burner due to a lucky discovery in the storage room in our house.  We were told we could use the things in the room, and two of the things happened to be guitars. Megan has a great voice and has always wanted to learn to play the guitar. And since we are in the middle of the woods with not a lot going on, the timing couldn’t be more perfect.  I’m not great at the guitar, but I at least know how to tune it, read chords, and do some other basic things.  So once I passed my little bit of knowledge on to Megan, I’ve heard a lot more singing and a lot less typing on the computer.  We had a great time tonight busting out “Edelweiss” (to get us ready for our Salzburg trip next week), Taylor Swift, and John Denver (that one is for Courtney).

I even attempted to make Playdough for my first time ever today, since I was pretty desperate for something for Chloe to do.  I bought “food coloring” at the store to try to make it more fun, and chose to try the blue out.  The blue was more of a grayish liquid that had no affect on my blob of salt and flour, so it was a very “natural” blob compared to normal playdough.   We didn’t have any rolling pin, so we used the bottle of wine the owners had left for it.  At least this way we got some use out of it.

I think everyone’s favorite course is Fire Building 101.  Between the fireplace that heats the house, the firepit outside, the grill we used to cook on outside, and a vast supply of split firewood, I have made more fires in the last few days than in the last few years of my life.  And it isn’t getting old.  It’s supposed to finally warm up during the next couple of days, and my only regret with that is that it might mean we’ll have to cut back on the fires.  At least the indoor ones, anyway.