I can ride the bus!!!

So, I have to say, Switzerland is probably the most civilized country I've been to. The place is clean as could be, it is stunningly beautiful, the people seem super friendly, the public transportation is amazing (I knew the time on my phone was a bit off because the bus was always 4 minutes late. My bad, of course. Phone time is now correct.), and omg! did I say how beautiful it is here?

The only "problem" I've had is that very small area I am in does not have a lot of English speakers, it's all French and German. Like I said before, I just speak Spanish and smile a lot, and, well, I'm still here. Ive been getting by on my own, but miss Tom's German. Though I can't for the life of me find a laundromat in this city -- even the tourism office, which of course speaks english, says there's no place here to do your own wash. I went to the place they suggested and was quoted the equivalent of $10 just for a pair of pants. Um, no thanks. So I've gone out to eat instead, with my laundry at my feet like a homeless woman. And here I sit, eating a $23 plate of rice noodles -- they're really good!

I'm also drinking -- a glass of water! If nothing else, my little 21 day detox diet has broken (at least for now) my terrible cocacola addiction. I didn't drink a single one for weeks. The other day, though, I had a coke because it was offered to me and why not? but I drank it, fine it was okay but held no real power over me. Oh, and I've lost somewhere around 10 pounds, I think. And I'm eating much, much healthier, even while on vacation. My unofficial goal is to be under 140 on my own scale at home when we return from Greece. We will see what happens, I'm not overly stressing about it.

So yesterday I went on a probably 12 mile run through the countryside. That's what this post was supposed to be about, but somehow sans Internet connection my pics have all disappeared from my local draft and, really, it's all about the photos. So I'll get back to that when I get back to the hotel and can reconnect.

Today I had another 20k run planned, but no. I dunno if it's the fact that it's three days into a huge time shift (why is everything always worse on day three?) or yesterday's run, or the fact that last night I slept for maybe four hours, but I woke up this morning feeling super tired and lazy and uninspired and the long bus trip and semi-grueling run I had planned just didn't seem very attractive in the light of day. So, that's for tomorrow. Today, my plan is:

Laundry = fail
Funny, interesting blog post with lovely pics = fail, so far
Learn more French = fail (it's the pronunciation that gets me)
Little run 'round the hotel later today = hopefully not fail
Manage to get on the bus, the CORRECT bus, get a ticket and pay for it, smile and say thank you and sit down until I get to my destination and then get off, WITHOUT creating undo drama, screwing up the language, fumbling senselessly with the currency, misunderstanding the process or in any way drawing unnecessary attention to my foreign self = SUCCESS!!! (it did take 3 days and like 7 bus rides, but still, yay me!).

It's important to have at least a few reachable goals.

Alright, so I just got back to the hotel, and here's another way the Swiss are more civilized:





Yup, that's beer and wine in the vending machine. Gotta love it.