December, 2006
Dear
Family and Friends,
In December, 2005, Mark moved into an apartment
off-campus. Theo, Micha and I traveled to St. Petersburg in February to visit
him. We bought him a bed, vacuum cleaner, and a bicycle for the two-mile commute. The four of us spent three nights in an apartment
not far from Universal Studios, Orlando, Adventure Island,
and the Dolly Parton dinner show. It was great being together. I loved Florida, the balmy weather, palm trees, exotic birds walking around
on peoples’ front lawns.
From
Florida, we flew to Salt Lake City to visit Dad and Elaine.
It was wonderful to see them! Debbie
flew up to see Micha and Theo before their return to Switzerland, then
she and I flew to Phoenix.
It was so good to be “back home.” We took a three-day
driving trip into Northern Arizona in Debbie’s little Z3 convertible, staying at the cement teepee hotel in Holbrook
and the posh La Posado next to the train tracks in Winslow. It’s always
great traveling with Debbie! Exceptionally cold, the desert wore a snow mantel
for the first time I can remember.
I returned home and April 3rd
rolled around: time for a heart “procedure” to eliminate av-nodal re-entry tachycardia, the supposed trigger of
atrial fibrillation. I arrived dutifully at the hospital, feeling calm, hopeful,
and trusting and was rolled into the operating room. After 3 ½ hours, the tachycardia
had been successfully ablated. However, when I returned to jogging, nearly every
time I ran, I had a shorter, milder tachycardia. I gave up jogging but continue
to work out at the fitness center. The day of the surgery, Micha moved to
Grossmami’s apartment in Winterthur for a six-month
apprenticeship in Zürich at Pricewaterhouse Coopers.
In May, I substitute taught three
days at Mark’s former private school in Berne.
Teaching was exciting.
After Mark’s year at Eckerd college
ended on May 22nd, he looked for a local job but couldn’t find one. This
left enough time for him to fly to Phoenix to visit Debbie and Salt Lake to see Dad and Elaine. Family members who had last seen Mark as a child met him as an adult and were impressed. On July 26th, he returned to Switzerland
at last.
In August, Hubert and I went on vacation to
Austria and Italy. I loved returning to Italy. In the Dolomite mountains, we hiked to over 2000 meters twice in one day. My favorite part of this trip was a three night stay at a 4-star hotel right on the beach at Lido Jesolo,
a small resort town on the Adriatic. Each night,
we were served pasta with olive oil, garlic, hot peppers, and seafood by an entertaining waiter who let me practice my Italian
at a street-side restaurant. We spent the days – blue skies, 70 degrees
– lying on lounge chairs beneath umbrellas on the beach. I read out loud
from an Italian/English phrase book. After dark we joined hundreds of pedestrians
on main street walking Le Passagio, and ate up to 6 scoops of gelati.
When we returned to Switzerland, I had one weekend to prepare for three more days of substitute teaching. I figured I didn’t need a heart pill this time.
It had been four months since the surgery and I was used to the new one-to-two-minute-long tachycardias. Teaching, I gave my all. I guess it was too much. Walking away from the schoolhouse after the last class on the final day, my heart went into atrial fibrillation. With a pill, I converted to normal rhythm after 15 minutes. Incidents of a-fib continued to recur every second week until I went on medication.
At this point, Grossmami fell and broke her
wrist. Hubert flew to Singapore
the next day for the week-long World Bank annual convention (also attended by Swiss Heads of State Leuthard and Mertz, and
American, Wolfowitz). I rode the train to Winterthur
to stay with Grossmami until her friend Monika, a nice taxi driver, and I could transfer her from her fourth floor apartment
without an elevator into a permanent care facility for six weeks of rehab. After
two weeks, she said tearfully over the phone, “I will never return to my beautiful apartment again.” The social worker had shown her a single, hospital-style room where she could spend the rest of her life. After three days listening to her drift deeper into despair, I declared, “Mama,
you’re goin' home!” From that day on, she reclaimed her positive,
cheerful spirit. Three weeks later, we brought her to Uettligen. She climbed the stairs two to four times a day. I took her
to my physical therapist, the doctor, the dentist, and Micha’s hairdresser for a new perm. At last she was ready to return home. I stayed with her for
a few days. She cooked lunch on my next-to-last day to show that she still has
what it takes.
She is now on the waiting list for a room in
a lovely old folks home we visited together. The waiting list is one-and-a-third
year and they only take you if you are still self-sufficient.
She’ll be 96 ½ by the time a room becomes available!
Micha loved her six months internship in Zürich. She loves Zürich. She loves the high-powered,
demanding work. She loved her team of co-workers.
I loved it when she finally returned home to live. With her, came Theo. My family was back. I appreciate each
day that they live here. All three attend Berne University studying business, Mark working
toward his BA, Micha and Theo toward their MBAs.
One night on the streets of Berne,
Mark rescued a young woman who was being pursued by a stranger. He told the man
to leave the woman alone, giving her a chance to escape. The man phoned his buddies. Six of them pursued Mark and two friends. When
one struck at Mark’s head with a metal bar, Mark took it away from him. (He
works out and is very strong). His
good friend, Stephan, held onto the other end of the bar so Mark couldn’t hurt anyone with it. While Mark was saying, “Let go of the bar, Stephan,” an assailant hit him repeatedly in the
back of the head with a bottle until it broke, leaving a three centimeter long head wound.
When Mark didn’t “go down” then, they ran away, Mark calling after, “Come
back, cowards!” Since then, he has taken up ninjitsu, a martial art. I don’t know if there’s a connection.
He is like a dancer when he practices the moves.
For the first time since she was 17, Micha attended
school without working part time on the side. This was far too easy, so she landed
a part-time job that began December 11th. Theo will move into his own apartment
on January 15th. He and Micha spend their spare time shopping, so far for a glass
dining room table, black dining chairs, a blue carpet…
Each year, I enter Stauffacher’s
annual English-language short story contest. This year my story, “A Visit
with Dr. Vladimir,” won third prize. If you like, you can read it online
at http://www.stauffacher.ch/shop/stb_ext_shortstory_avisit/show/.
I continue to sing Eastern European folk songs (in
the original languages) with Lorrie Scheller's choir, "Melodia." In November, we presented a small concert for
the International Club of Berne. Each rehearsal is a joy.
Hubert was promoted to Assistant Head of Division
of the Swiss government’s development aid division in charge of finding and administering projects to raise the living
standards in the 10 new EU countries using a billion swiss francs over the next ten years.
After Switzerland’s right-wing political parties launched
a referendum (public vote) to block the use of the funds, Hubert traveled around Switzerland giving speeches to convince the Swiss people to vote in favor of spending
the money. He was the technical speaker following Mrs. Calmey Rey, one of our
seven Heads of State, who pointed out that the money is not a gift but an investment which will bring good returns to the
Swiss people politically, socially, and economically. The Swiss approved the
billion in aid. I applaud their wisdom and foresight.
If you haven’t seen Al Gore’s movie,
“An Inconvenient Truth,” please do so, then do whatever you can to reduce your environmental footprint.
