Swiss Miss

This post goes out specially to Mi Mujer who wants to know what's the deal with my permit application here in Switzerland :D

Ok a lil' background history first.

As a Malaysian, I am allowed to stay in Switzerland on tourist visa which is valid for 3 months. Since I want to stay longer with Mi Amor, I emailed the Swiss embassy in Malaysia asking them how do I go about applying for a permit to stay longer than 3 months in Switzerland (btw, all this happened around Nov 2010, immediately after Mi Amor  left for Vevey). I received a reply from the embassy saying that I do not have to do anything on my side but Mi Amor will have to file for an application on his side for a permit for me for the purpose of family reunification and submit it to Vevey's city/town hall office (Hotel de Ville). Once he receives a reply and if it is favourable, then all I have to do is register with the HdV once I arrive here. The whole process should take about a month, two at tops. Thinking it was too good to be true (that I don't hafta do the dirty work and leave it to Mi Amor), I even called up the swiss embassy to reconfirm what was stated in their reply email. So after the reconfirmation by the embassy person, I told Mi Amor to immediately go about filing an application. Anyway the plan was that once I arrive in February, hopefully the permit will have been approved then (it would have been 3 months since the application). However if it's still pending, I can still stay for 3 months on my tourist visa.

So when I arrived in February 2011, there was still no sign of my permit. We weren't so worried then but once March came around and there was still no sign of a permit, Mi Amor called up the office and guess what they said? They said that they received the application that Mi Amor submitted back in Nov 2010 but they were still waiting for an application to be submitted back home in Malaysia by yours truly.  SAY WHAT?!? Mi Amor told them about what the swiss embassy in Malaysia informed me but they were still adamant that I submit an application through the embassy in Malaysia. Well they could have had the courtesy to inform Mi Amor earlier :P I started to panic about the logistics of submitting an application back home. Then Mi Amor suggested we go to the HdV and see if we can just submit an application through the HdV itself because half of the time these admin people don't even know/understand what they're talking about (especially when the conversation is in English).


So I went to the HdV and submitted an application (yes, turns out it is possible to submit it there itself! :P) and was told that there should be no problem and they will forward my application to the office in Lausanne whereby I should expect to hear from them within 2-3 weeks. 


After 3 weeks, we went back to the HdV and surprise surprise.....that they still had not received any news from the office in Lausanne regarding my application!! By this time it was already mid April and I told the man at the counter I had 2 weeks left on my tourist visa. Seeing how worried I was the man at the counter gave me the number of the office in Lausanne and told me to follow up directly with them. Mi Amor emailed the office in Lausanne and when they replied, they said something along the lines of, "regrettably it has just been brought to our attention....bla bla bla...we will forward the application to the office in Bern" WHAT THE @$%& ?!? Now only its been brought to your attention?


Well, after that there was nothing much we could do but wait and pray while formulating a plan B incase my permit doesn't come through within this week. Yupp, my tourist visa officially expires on the 5th of May 2011.

By Wednesday morning, 4th May I was already mentally preparing myself to leave Mi Amor (the poor guy was already depressed enuff as it is as 2 of his close friends who are also here on mission will be returning to their country this month). Then when Mi Amor came home for lunch, as he walked through the door he excitedly waved a letter in his hand...yupp, THE LETTER !

After 5 months of waiting, it was kinda hard to believe that the letter we had been waiting for had finally arrived (and in the freaking nick of time!) . The letter was dated 2nd May and the date on the envelope was 3rd and it finally arrived in our post box on the 4th (not to mention my visa expires on the 5th!).  The letter also stated that I had to go to the office in Lausanne to make my biometric card so immediately after lunch I  took the train to Lausanne and made my way to the office (needed to use a map to help me find my way) and managed to settle the whole thing within an hour!

So yeah, after a 5 months waiting game, I am now a Swiss Miss (well that's what my SIL calls me anyway) :D so here's what I made to celebrate

Butter shortbread biscuit with dark chocolate drizzle

YUMMY !

Me time

Alrighty then, I guess it's back to blogging for me now that SIL and kids have flown back home to Malaysia. They left last Sunday afternoon and the kids (esp lil niece) were bawling their eyes out. What they didn't know then was that Mi Amor was actually going to be on the same flight as em' coz he had a meeting to attend in M'sia (he wanted to surprise em') and only at the airport upon checking in did he spill the surprise to em. However lil' niece didn't buy it and thought he was lying just to make her feel better. Even when they boarded the plane she still thought he was lying (coz they had to part as he had to sit in business class and they were in economy). SIL said that even on the plane she was crying so hard that all the stewardess were concerned and tried to comfort her but to no avail. Once the plane took off and after they were allowed to walk around in the plane, SIL immediately took her to business class to meet Mi Amor and then only was she happy. I hear that now that they are back in M'sia, she wants to spend every second of every minute of every hour of every day with Mi Amor (she cries everyday esp in school at the thought of Mi Amor having to fly back to Switzerland this weekend). Good luck to Mi Amor and the family coz I have no idea how they are going to handle the situation this weekend at the airport!

Anyway, for the past 2 weeks I found myself playing host and tour guide to SIL and the kids and it was freaking tiring (but fun at the same time) coz we went out EVERY day.  Living with the kids for 2 weeks I had no choice but to learn how to adapt. I had to restrain myself from picking up their toys that were strewn in the living room (since it became their playroom), I had to cook dishes that the kids would actually eat (they are very picky eaters) and I had to reluctantly throw out the unfinished food on their plate (I'm a member of the clean plate club). Also I discovered how hectic it can be to travel with kids. Visiting a place that would normally take 2 hours max, takes at least double the amount of time with kids in tow! I use to get annoyed/irritated with noisy kids in public transportation (esp if they're running about) but I found myself shushing my own niece and nephew and cringing at the level of noise that they were making in the train and bus. It didn't help that some of the things they said made me blush/cringe ("HaHa...I can see your private part!!" "Stop pointing! How would you like it if I shook your private?"). At one point I tried to trick em' by suggesting a game called the quite game whereby they had to lower their volume to an acceptable level but could say anything they wanted to and the first person to talk loudly loses....they bought it and everything was going well but half an hour into the game they quit and declared it was a boring game :P

So yupp, with SIL, the kids and Mi Amor back home in Msia, I have been enjoying a lil' 'me time' at the moment....just lazing around, watching my fav shows, going online (though Mi Amor says that what I do during my 'me time' is nothing different from what I normally do when he's here). I beg to differ Mi Amor! The added bonus of this 'me time' is that I can go to bed anytime I want (the other day I slept at 5am) and wake up as late as I want to (normally I hafta wake up early to wake Mi Amor up and help him get ready for work), I don't hafta cook (yay! no rushing to have lunch ready by 12pm), I don't hafta iron Mi Amor's work shirts, I don't hafta pick up after Mi Amor (seriously, socks and jacket strewn in the living room?!) or clean up after him (he is incapable of washing his dishes or throwing away rubbish). Best of all is I can download anything I want without being interrupted (normally I hafta stop downloading when Mi Amor wants to play the PS3).  At first SIL and Mi Amor were worried about leaving me all alone.....thinking that after 2 weeks of having company around, I might get depressed/lonely by the sudden quietness and being left by myself that they skyped me EVERYDAY (sometimes up to twice a day!) and keep asking what I'm doing and whether I'm ok....I keep trying to reassure em' that I'm fine and enjoying my 'me time'. I guess some people have difficulty believing that I can actually do NOTHING and enjoy myself....I keep saying it's an art very few can master :D

 Oh and after watching American Idol just now, I finally found my theme song!!



Ok, back to doing nothing again....I have 1 more day of freedom left to enjoy before Mi Amor comes back!

Say hello to Mummy Eena

FINALLY Baby Ayden has decided to come out and play!!! (after putting his poor mama through 20 hours or so of labour!). It feels so surreal that Lil' sis is a mother now and that I am an aunty. Wish I could have been there to hold her hand and talk to her......sighhhhh....Oh well, hopefully for the next one huh? Am also a bit disappointed that I won't be able to hold my nephew while he is still a newborn. I have NEVER held a newborn baby before (was saving that for a special occasion like when I have a baby of my own....or when Lil' sis has one) coz I have a phobia of carrying something so fragile in my arms since I have been known to be a lil' miss clumsy (hmmmm...well then, maybe it's a good thing his Mummy Eena ain't around huh?).

Welcome to the world baby Ayden! It may not be a perfect place but its just been made a lil better now with you in it. Mummy Eena and Papi Dickie can't wait to meet you! I hear your mama thinks you look a bit like me... you lucky baby you! haha ;D

Of having company and feeling anxious

Family's here!!! Picked SIL and kids up at Geneva Airport yesterday and they'll be here for 2 weeks. We're happy to have company and the kids seem excited to be here but I do pity them coz we live in an apartment with thin walls and floors (albeit a nice apartment) so we hafta keep reminding em' not to make too much noise or to run around. I'm kinda nervous at the prospect of being their tour guide coz I haven't ventured out much in Switzerland (heck, I don't even quite know my way around Vevey itself!) not to mention cooking for em'.

Anyway, on another note, I was anxious and had difficulty sleeping last night after receiving the call from BIL telling me that Lil' sis was going into labour. I practically prayed myself to sleep hoping that when I wake up, everything will be fine and over and done with. However, she's still in labour as I'm writing this (think it's been about 8 hours now?). Hope Baby Koala comes out soon!!!! Will be going out with SIL and kids today and I know that I'll be thinking of Lil' sis the whole time.

Ok gtg get ready.... seems like everyone has taken their bath except me (I guess one thing good about having company is that now I can't laze around the house all day without bathing :P ). Can't have everyone waiting for the tour guide now can we?

A year wiser......NOT !!

So I've turned a year older......ermmmm.....yay, I guess? Maybe I should only start celebrating once my wisdom catches up with my age? heh -_-

That doesn't mean I didn't enjoy my bday though. I must admit that a few days before my bday I had already resigned myself to the fact that I shouldn't expect much on my bday itself coz Mi Amor had already given me 2 awesome pre bday trips plus the fact that my bday was on a weekday and Mi Amor had to work. But at 12am on my bday, Mi Amor handed me a bday card which was from Mi Mujer ( I swear I was surprised Mujer! and btw, the card is so you...heh) and I logged into my fb account to find a really sweet and personal bday wish from Lil sis followed by many other bday wishes from friends and relatives. Funny how just a simple "Happy Birthday" wish can mean so much :D

Anyway, turns out that Mi Amor actually managed to get leave on my bday so he wanted to take me around some of the further cities in Switzerland.  Not to mention that traveling is cheaper on your bday coz you get to buy a day travel card for half the price! However, when we asked the person at the ticket counter for the bday travel card, the person at the counter was like, "It's only for those 16 and below....she's not 16" . I gotta admit I felt a bit insulted (is she saying I look old?!?) coz it felt like it was almost yesterday when I could pass as a high school student :P  After Mi Amor spoke to a senior attendant and explained that he read about the special discount on their website, then only did they remember that they offered such a discount and apologized for the inconvenience. Their reason for forgetting? Because people hardly buy the bday travel card :P. Yeah, so that makes me special, yay! heh :D

We managed to catch the 11 something train to St. Gallen (3 hours from Vevey) where we visited the Abbey of Saint Gall, listed as a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage site with over 1000 years of history in a single place.

Passed through some countryside on the train ride to St. Gallen

We managed to enter the Abbey Cathedral, Library and Lapidarium but unfortunately visitors are not allowed to take pictures (so I guess I'll just hafta rely on good ol' Google for the pics).  Quite a shame as the library is quite possibly one of the most amazing and beautiful library in the world with a collection of about 150,000 (books and manuscripts) but only about 30,000 of its collection can be seen as the rest are deemed too precious to be shown. About 400 of the books are more than 1,000 years old!

Overhead view of the St. Gallen Abbey

Inside the cathedral

Abbey library. Couldn't find a pic on Google that can do it justice so settled for this one.

After touring around the abbey, we stopped for some refueling before heading to the train station to visit the next city, Zurich.

Our pit stop

Just what I needed to keep me going, iced choco drink with vanilla ice-cream and a piece of dark chocolate and milk chocolate with hazelnuts.

Upon arriving in Zurich, I felt as if I had stepped into another country because everyone around me was speaking in German. When Mi Amor ordered some pretzels in French, the guy at the counter laughed (and its not because of Mi Amor's accent...haha). We took a tram ride all around Zurich city and saw the sunset from inside the tram. Then we went for dinner and I had something I have been craving for ever since I arrived here :

SUSHI!!!! Oishi!!! :D 

Had a few minutes to spare after dinner before catching the last train home to Vevey at 10pm (missing the train would mean having to catch the next one at 5am!) so we walked around the train station for a bit.

The moment we boarded the train and sat our asses down in the seat, we fell asleep ( I wouldn't be surprised if the other passengers nicknamed use The Snoring Couple  :P )  We finally arrived home around 12.30am and just as I was about to get ready for bed, TAADAA !!! Mi Amor gave me my bday pressie:

Yay! A 9" digital photo frame.....now I have a place to showcase all the pics I've taken with my Cammie :D

Perfect way to end the night.....full, tired, happy...but most importantly, in the arms of my loved one.

My Birthday Weekend Treat

Ok, technically this weekend should be my bday weekend as my bday falls in the middle of this week but since we can't go anywhere this weekend (SIL and kids are arriving this Sunday), Mi Amor surprised me with a weekend getaway last Saturday. If you read my previous post on how he surprised me with a trip to Madrid, he kinda used a similar tactic and yes, I fell for it again :P

We woke up early on Saturday (which is normal for me but highly unusual for Mi Amor) and Mi Amor told me to get ready as we were going on a road trip (he borrowed a colleague's car as she wasn't using it over the weekend). He also told me to pack just incase we might need to spend a night somewhere. Before we left the house and throughout our journey he kept asking me where would I like to go seeing as France, Italy and Germany were a few hours drive away and as usual I was like "where ever is fine with me" (I was just glad to be out of the house!). It wasn't until we were about an hour and a half into our trip that it dawned on me where we were going.......we were heading for Milan! You could say my epiphany was when we turned into the exit on the highway heading to Milan.....and then only did I realize that Mi Amor had been wearing an AC Milan jersey all the while! (which should have been a dead giveaway coz he wore an FC Barcelona jersey when we went to Barca, and a Real Madrid jersey when we went to Madrid....*face palm*)

When we arrived in Madrid, the first stop we made was at the San Siro stadium (but of course! :P ) as Mi Amor wanted to purchase tickets for the Inter vs Milan game that night. Then we checked into the hotel and this was what I saw upon entering the room:

Chocolates are way better than rose petals!

There was also a plate of biscuits, bowl of fruits and chips and a bottle of champagne (which should have been changed to something non alcoholic but they forgot). Apparently Mi Amor had arranged it with the hotel for my bday suprise..... :D
Seeing as it was almost 5pm and we hadn't had lunch, we ordered room service (the last time we ordered room service was during our honeymoon last year!)

Pasta Marinara

Pizza Margherita

Delicioso! After lunch, Mi Amor left for the stadium to watch the game while I lazed around in the room. Didn't feel like walking around coz I've been to Milan before and seen the touristy sights plus I found myself sinking deep into the bed that I was well past the point of no return (ahhhhhhh the pillows....just thinking of em' makes me sleepy). Seriously, it was lights out for me from then onwards!

After breakfast (technically brunch since we came down at 11am), we checked out of the hotel and decided to go to Como (since I saw a series on the travel channel a few years ago called "1000 places to see before you die" and Lake Como was on the list). We drove around Como for a bit to take in the sights and then went up the funicular to Brunate, a village on top of a hill, 500m above the lake. By right the view of the lake and the town from up the hill should be stunning but it looked quite hazy that day :<  We walked around the quaint village and when we found out there was a lighthouse, we decided to go up (found out the hard way that it takes a freaking half an hour hike just to get there! :P) I must have been the only person hiking wearing a pair of ballet flats and carrying around a handbag!

The drive around Como

Guess I don't belong to this city

One the way to the lighthouse...if you think this is steep, it only got worse

Made it up the lighthouse

The queue for the funicular going back down the hill was freaking long (the funicular arrives every 14 minutes) and I was surprised and annoyed at the fact that people did not know how to queue properly! (btw most of these people were Italians). A lot of pushing, squeezing and queue cutting going on (so HAH! to people who think that European countries are suppose to be more civilized than Asian countries). I lost count of the number of people who somehow managed to squeeze ahead in front of me but I was giving all of em' dirt stares behind my shades :P

Anyway, we left Como around 6, stopped by some shopping outlet village which was on our way home (we had only half an hour to shop before closing time which was 8pm) and continued our journey. We panicked at one point during the journey home coz the petrol meter read 0 and the signboard along the road stated that the next petrol station was 36km away. Both of us fell silent and started praying hard and after 10-15 minutes, by some miracle, the next sign we came across showed that the next petrol station was 2km away! After refueling and grabbing a quick dinner, we were back on the road and managed to arrive home safe and sound by 1am.

Mille grazie Mio Amo for the awesome birthday weekend treat....Ti amo!

Dusting off the cobwebs......

Just to let you know I'm still alive and kicking and that I'm back from my holiday in Madrid (ok so I've been back for almost 3 weeks now :P ). I did think of blogging about it once I get back but as you can see, procrastination got the better of me (what else is new?). Plus the fact that I have been busy downloading and watching all sorts of TV series (special thanks to Mi Mujer for introducing me to the wonderful world of downloading). I can finish a whole season of a series (which on average is 12 episodes) in 1 day!! Ahhhh.....it feels soooooo good!! Now I have an idea how and why some recovering alcoholics fall of the wagon :D

Anyway, since my holiday is old news, I've decided not to blog about it. Oh but I have to say that believe it or not, I had no idea we were going to Madrid! (in fact, I had no idea we were going on a holiday!) You see, one Wednesday night after Mi Amor came home late from work as usual (he had been coming home late every night for the past week) , he suddenly announced, "I don't feel like working tomorrow....I'm stressed out at work....screw the boss, he should be able to handle the work himslef, I've done everything else....let's go somewhere....pack your bags for the weekend!"
Of coz 2 things ran through my mind when he said that.......'the poor guy has finally turned crazy from all the stress' and 'Hell yeah, let's go!'


Glad to say that the rational side of my brain was still working and I tried to talk him out of skiving from work but finally after an hour of Mi Amor not budging, I gave in an packed my bags to keep him quiet thinking that he'll change his mind the next day. Well that didn't happen coz the next morning we found ourselves rushing to the train station to get to the airport. I kept asking Mi Amor, "Where are we going?" and he kept answering, "I don't know, let's just see what flights they have at the airport and try to purchase tickets for the next earliest flight to anywhere" (the whole time I was thinking to myself ' ok, this craziness is going on a little longer than I expected but hopefully when we get to the airport there won't be any available flights and we'll hafta turn back').


Once we got to the airport, I realized that instead of heading to the ticket counter to purchase tickets, we were heading to the counter with the scanner thingy that u hafta pass through on your way to the departure gate. That's when it finally hit me (yes, I have a history of being slow and gullible).......Mi Amor had already bought the tickets....he had actually planned this beforehand!! Turns out that Mi Amor wanted to surprise me with a holiday to Madrid as an early bday pressie ......Awwwwwwwww :D

Hmmmm....to come and think of it, maybe I will blog about the Madrid holiday seeing as this blog is the closest thing I have to a diary....but not in this post though, coz I need to go to sleep soon (it's almost 3am).  In the meantime, enjoy the pics of some of the results of the culinary skills (ha ha) that I'm slowly picking up here!

Choux pastry with nutella filling (this is actually the second batch...the first batch looked more like a Choux pastry but Mi Amor wanted more nutella filling hence the messiness of this batch coz it was practically bursting with nutella!)

Spaghetti carbonara (I found out that the original Italian version of carbonara does not use cream so I decided to try that recipe out coz I thought it would be healthier....plus I couldn't find any heavy cream at the supermarket :P )

Soft chewy milo nutella cookies 

Crispy garlic paprika chips 

Mushroom swiss cheese burger (and yes, I made the burger patty myself! Mi Amor thinks it tastes way better than Burger King's :D )  

My first attempt at cooking chicken rice (even made my own chicken stock)

Honey roasted chicken 

Lemon chicken breasts

Thought of eating the lemon chicken on it's own but decided to pair it with sauteed vegetables and angel hair pasta

Oh by the way, cooking has just been made easier for me. Yay! You see, ever since I got here, most of my cooking was done from scratch. I had to look up the recipe and try my best to find the ingredients and follow the instructions to make the dish (which isn't easy to do considering I don't have a blender and most Malay dishes require blending or pounding some of the ingredients). However last week, Mi Amor finally received his box that contained all sorts of instant paste and Maggi noodles which he bought back home:

Just add water

I think I've used about 4 packets now and I must say I'm freaking enjoying it! (not only coz it makes things easier but it also tastes good). However I think if I keep relying on the packets, I'll get lazy (oh wait, I'm already lazy.......so perhaps lazier, if that's even possible) so I'm trying to limit my usage of the packets. Though if I don't get my Swiss permit approved and hafta go back to Malaysia (I have 1 month left on my tourist visa), I know all those packets will go to waste coz Mi Amor can't be arssed to cook anything even if it is instant (if there's someone lazier than me, it would be him!). Hell, the boy doesn't even know how to cook rice! (and that's with a rice cooker) :P

Alright then, I'm off to bed......