The little zoo

Monday was spend doing laundry and unpacking.

Tuesday was a little bit of a waste, too.  I waited for someone to come and install cable and internet.  He never came.  There was a little mix up that resulted in us not having anything connected until the night of the 21st.  That's why the blog is being written a week late.

We did get out Wednesday.  We went to the Knies Kinderzoo in Rapperswil.  It really is a kinder zoo.  It's very small and easy to walk and doesn't have very many animals.  The highlights for S and T were their ride on an elephant and the sea lion show. L loved the pygmy goat petting area.  It was swarming with tiny goats and an occasional pot bellied pig.  There was also a fairly large playground there with what looked like a dangerously long and steep kiddie slide.  L loved it and went down dozens of times. She has no fear at all and will go down any slide she can.

L with a tiny goat

The playgrounds here aren't super safe, so things can get big

L heading up to the big kiddie slide

We made it home just in time, since E had scheduled a meeting for S to meet her new teacher and see her school.  Her teacher is a very nice man who seems committed to helping S learn German (and making sure we do our best to immerse her, too.) He showed us the classroom which is very modern with huge picture windows all the way around.  Unlike every American classroom I've ever seen, it is not the least bit cluttered.  It is sparse and neat and spotless- a dream work environment.  S was told to bring a pair of indoor shoes to keep at school, since they take their other shoes off when they get to school and leave them in the hall.  Another surprise - Herr S didn't even seem to understand what we were talking about when we asked if there was a school supplies list.  We explained that in the US we get a list of things to bring like folders, pencils, binders, notebooks, kleenex, markers, etc.  He figured a school ought to already have those things. So those are a couple of ways in which Swiss schools are superior.  Another, obviously, is in teaching languages.  I'll never know how they get languages taught or get kids to upper levels in math, for example, given the school schedule.  More about that another time.