Bend and stretch

Yoga mat, originally uploaded by kitschenette.

I’ve taken up a yoga class on Wednesday mornings, and I love it (thank you, Asian genes, for making me flexible without having to work at it). When Bruno starts his new job in September I’m going to pick up an evening class as well. It feels so good to bend and stretch and flex.

I’m in bit of lull in between projects at the moment, and it’s a great feeling. There’s nothing niggling at the back of my mind, reminding me of all the things I should be doing. However, I am well aware its a calm-before-the-storm feeling, because I know I’m going to get busy again soon. So I’m trying to enjoy the feeling now while I can. I’m off to France this weekend, which promises to be fun and relaxing. I haven’t been to a concert since London, and I miss the sweaty atmospherics (hysterics?).

We received letters from the local school board a few days ago informing us of the kidlets’ new classes after summer – Max will be in the 4th class, and Lola entering the 1st (my baby! off to school already!). Max will be busy – he is at school every day from 8am-4.15pm, except Wednesday afternoons (and on Wednesday morning he starts at 7.25am. Awful. Luckily we live so close to the school). Schoolwork gets a lot more difficult too, we’ve heard. So there will be some changes for him ahead. To prepare for the upcoming hard times we’ve instituted a no TV/PSP/nintendo during the week policy – very unpopular, I tell you, but necessary, I think. Poor kids! Just left with books and bikes and scooters and hula hoops and drawing materials and skateboards and and and…it’s a tough life.

Lola will have Max’s old teacher, who I think is fine for little girls (the little boys proved tricky for her). Although she insists that she never wants to learn to read or do maths (instead being happy to draw and craft and crochet), I know that she is more than ready. She will have school every morning, as well as two afternoons a week (one more afternoon per week than what she has now at kindy). So that gives ME an extra afternoon per week of freedom! Whatever shall I do with that extra 2 hours…Of course, both kids come home for lunch everyday between 12-1.30pm so it does give them a big break in the middle of the day, but means I’m still not entirely free any day, really. But it’s definitely getting more manageable every year.

A room of one’s own

The rainy weekend forced us to turn our attention to home improvements of the more interesting kind. What started off as making a bit more space in Max’s room by consolidating his gigantic but poorly used bookcase turned into practically a whole house rearrangement…I’ve been moaning for quite a while now about how Bruno’s assortment of bike mags, how-to manuals, old cameras and lenses, obscure industrial gadgets and the like have been encroaching upon the tiny corner of our shared office space that I have managed to secure for myself. Now that I’ll be studying my little heart out again (ahem) I foresaw the need to be slightly more organised with more space for MY STUFF.

So I made the brilliant suggestion of keeping our upstairs office for ME and ONLY ME as I will be using it daily, and forcing Bruno to move his crap very valuable stuff downstairs into our concrete bunker spare room. I mean, it’s not that bad down there, it has its own fibre optic cable for super fast net access, a phone line, multiple power points, is very spacious (double bed and sofa!) and is rather fetchingly furnished with a mixture of high end designer furniture and IKEA/brocki finds. It even has a window (ok, it looks out onto some weeds growing under the front door, but, hey, fresh air!) and separate entrance. Even better, it’s right next to Bruno’s workroom and his other projects and there are thick concrete walls on all sides so as to drown out the godawful noise dulcet tones of his punk records.I think he likes it down there (although he insists on telling everyone I’ve kicked him out to live in the cellar), perhaps a little too much!

This morning I took a moment to relish the vast expanse of emptiness that stretched out across MY desk. I hung a picture up on the wall and put a few things away. I bought some scissors and envelopes (things that wander in our house) which shall remain property of my office, or else! It has been quite a while since I’ve had a room of my own, and I was surprised how much I liked the feeling. It might even be slightly more exciting to go to work in the morning – well, that might just be wishful thinking

You’ve done it again, Virginia

Woodwork, originally uploaded by kitschenette.

I went and observed Max at his woodwork class on Monday. He was making a Star Wars TIE-fighter. Now that they’ve stopped knitting, crocheting and sewing and started sawing, drilling and sanding he really likes Handarbeit (handicrafts)!

Today I did more school observations, including Max’s English class and his extra Maths Fuchstunde. I despair of him ever learning anything at his English class – obviously it is pitched at beginner level for the other kids, so for Max it is extremely boring. Unlike previous years when he could come home to me for a lesson, he has to stay and participate. I have tried giving him extra work to do in the lesson that is more at his level, but although his teacher promised me she would give him time to do it when the others are doing things that are too basic for him, he never gets given that time and instead has to do all the same things the others are doing. She could use Max to help the other students, but she doesn’t…I think that as her own English isn’t great she feels embarrassed when he knows more than she does, so her strategy is more to manage him so that he doesn’t disturb the rest of the class, rather than actively encouraging him to learn something, anything. There are more and more native English-speaking kids at school who experience similar problems. I’ve spoken to other parents and we’ve agreed that we need to lobby the school board for extra or possibly separate classes for the native English speakers – we’ve even offered our teaching services for free, as several of us are teachers, but the school board has been curiously resistant to the idea. I can forsee this being an on-going project …

The Fuchstunde was another matter entirely. It’s an extra two hours per week for kids who need extra challenges in Maths, and Max loves it. His teacher takes mathematical concepts and makes them fun, through games, stories and puzzles. Today they were working on logic, using various labyrinth puzzles and games. I admit that Maths was never my best subject, but to me they looked really tricky.

Bruno’s mum and I also went to visit Lola at kindy. When we went in the whole class was sitting on the floor making a craft project. Lola had a younger kid on either side of her, patiently explaining what they had to do. She’s an crafting expert, always snipping, plaiting, folding and sticking, and she has proved to be surprisingly patient with the other kindy kids, who come to her when they don’t know how to do something. She’s more than ready for school, it’s clear to see. It still amazes me how grown-up she is, so helpful and sweet – and tall!

In other news, here I go again – back to study! Cripes. A Masters degree this time. I start in July. Hopefully I’ll be slightly more disciplined and organised than in previous years. Other big news – Bruno has a new job, closer to home and better conditions all round. We are all looking forward to him being home more often, especially me! Bonus is that Bruno can now be the Watcher of the Homework, a thankless duty which I will be glad to pass over.

Kids these days

Kids II, originally uploaded by kitschenette.

Somebody does not look amused at the fact that he had to have his photo taken with his little sister. AND she was hugging him – the things parents make kids do, just to humiliate them!

(See here for the tiny smile I finally managed to coax out of Mr Prepubescent)

Breaking out the sunglasses

Breaking out the sunglasses, originally uploaded by kitschenette.

For Nana and Poppa, with love from Lola.

New shoes

New shoes, originally uploaded by kitschenette.

I’ve worn them every day since I bought them.

Today the sun is shining brightly and everyone is automatically much happier. The house smells like toffee sauce – it’s Donatli’s 30th birthday party tonight, and he requested a sticky date pudding for his birthday cake. I was only too happy to oblige because no-one except me in the Kitschenette household seems to like cakey puddings anymore (they are all biscuit fiends).

The National @ Royal Albert Hall 06.05.10

National @ Royal Albert Hall 06.05.10, originally uploaded by kitschenette.

I saw The National play a sold-out show at the Royal Albert Hall in London a couple of weeks ago. They were amazing. Matt Berninger messed up ‘Baby, we’ll be fine’ twice and then they abandoned it altogether. But his voice sends chills up my spine, and therefore the man can do no wrong in my eyes.
I didn’t realise that The National were such a bloke’s band (are they really?). The crowd was about 80% male. The whole row behind me was taken up by a group of blokes discussing in eye-watering detail their extremely high-end stereo and headphone systems.

So London was it’s usual wonderful, slightly grotty, freezing cold self. I managed to get there in between plumes of volcanic ash – the day before I left and the day after I left airports were closed due to ash clouds, so I was pretty lucky. I bought a lot of books and comics and caught up with Michael – that was great.

Since I’ve been home it has rained and been utterly cold and miserable. I’ve even had to pull out all the winter jackets that I had put away (prematurely – I jinxed the weather by doing that!). I need some warmth and sunshine! Luckily we should have some skirts-and-sandals weather soon – like, the weekend!

Tell it to my heart

Yes, it is Star Wars Day – May the Fourth be with you

if the volcanic ash cloud currently threatening Ireland moves any further towards the UK and/or Switzerland, I think I might just have to sit in the corner and cry. On Thursday I am meant to be going to London to see The National play at the Royal Albert Hall. I’ve got a great seat, and I’ve been wanting to see them for AGES. It was my present to myself for finishing the book project (ok, it’s not quite finished, but it is close, so close) – I deserve this! Also, I’ll be catching up with the lovely Michael, and checking out his not-so-humble abode (and garden) – really looking forward to that. So I am anxiously checking twitter feeds and weather and news services to make sure that dastardly cloud doesn’t move anywhere it shouldn’t be.

Speaking of London, this will be my first trip not seeing the ex-friend that caused me so much grief last year. So I feel a little sad at the memory of the times we spent traipsing around London. But well, what can you do? Life goes on and I don’t have the time or the energy to get all melancholy over it.

Panic Switch

BSA Golden Flash, originally uploaded by kitschenette.

This lump of rather beautiful machinery inhabits our cellar – Bruno tells me it is a BSA Golden Flash and it is his current work-in-progress. He swears and curses at it tinkers about on it whenever he gets the chance. He has an evil plan for us to ride it somewhere far, far away when he is finished….thank god that will likely be years away, because sitting on a bitch pad for thousands of dusty miles is certainly not my idea of fun.

I took this picture for his birthday invitation, but ended up using a different one with more wheels and cogs and stuff at his request, despite this one being nicely-centred and properly in focus (unlike the other one).

Woke up this morning feeling strangely rested…until i looked at the clock and saw that it was 07.41 am. Crap! The kids need to leave for school at 8 am so a mad panic ensued, clothes flying, speed breakfast made (thank god for banana smoothies), doors slamming…but everyone got out the door in time. Now I'm surveying the damage left behind. Ugh. It's enough to make me want to go back to bed and pull the covers over my head.

• Creepy old dude
• Satisfy your
  inner voyeur at The Selby – less obvious than walking past houses and craning your
  head to look in the window.
• Pascal Grob – Zurich's very own sartorialist.
• Europe's best city apartments – reading this just makes me want to travel. Luckily my trip to London looms quite near on the horizon, so I can scratch my itchy feet a little.

Couch potato

Couch potato, originally uploaded by kitschenette.

Exhausted after two days spent painting the ceiling. Now a well-deserved rest sacked out on the sofa with a glass of wine.