Switzerland, beautiful Switzerland
Of course, in November and December, we continued to compete in the World Cup of “living out of a suitcase” while staying with our friends and family. But to be honest, at some point it was really exhausting. Always living out of our suitcases and out of our car. Packing again and again and never really being able to unpack. Always new sleeping situations and a new table arrangement. Yes, we enjoyed it about 84.2907%, but now being back home in Chisinau is also very nice. Believe me, having a wardrobe for your own clothes, even if it doesn’t look particularly nice, can be very attractive after three months at home.
But back to our stay in Switzerland. From November to January we were at the following locations: Thierachern (BE), Schwanden (BE), Bern, Hausen am Albis (ZH), Zurich, Rorbas (ZH), Uetikon am See (ZH), Hochdorf (LU), Schwanden (BE), Zurich and Hallein (Austria).
We celebrated Christmas together with my (Silvia’s) family in Schwanden and with my brother in Linden. It was nice to celebrate and enjoy with you again after a two-year break.
In total, we slept in around 50 different beds, inflatable mattresses, sofa beds, travel cots, mattresses on the floor and yoga mats.
Thanks again to all those who opened their homes to us and allowed us to be your guests.
Thank you for all the meals, the coffees, the conversations, the hugs and so on. You have enriched our stay at home and made it possible.
Also remarkable: we lived with so many different (cold) people in the three months, but never got sick. Prayer works.
and beautiful Austria
Back home
On 5 January (yes, it really said that on my Air Austria flight ticket. The Austrians are crazy) I flew with Anna and Elia from Vienna to Chisinau. There, Moldovan helpfulness awaited me in the form of an OM employee. Costel picked us up and drove us home. Because I couldn’t open the gate to the courtyard, he climbed over the fence for me without further ado and opened it from the inside. He then helped me to find the key to the house so that he could be sure that we had arrived safely. Yes, that’s how they are, the Moldovans.
While I sat in our cosy living room, Tim set off on the long drive back to Moldova with Lara and Ruben. The plan was for them to make the 1,600km and approx. 22-hour journey from Salzburg to Chisinau in four days. In contrast to our outward journey to Switzerland (where we got stuck on the motorway and had engine problems), the whole thing went without any major incidents this time. On the first day of the trip, he first travelled to Vienna, where the children met their great-grandparents. After a delicious pizza in a restaurant with a very stressed waitress, the three of them crossed the border into Hungary in the afternoon. On the way they found a nice hotel about an hour from Budapest – unfortunately I had taken my swimming things with me in my flight luggage, as the hotel had its own wellness area included in the price of the overnight stay. But that would have been too much luxury, wouldn’t it? Tim was of a different opinion and instead of going for a bath, he showered for half an eternity in the evening. Unfortunately, he only realised a little too late that the water from the wheelchair-accessible shower without a door or step was flowing into the hotel room and from there into the corridor.
Because Lara didn’t think it was a real adventure if they didn’t drive at night, Tim came up with a crazy plan. The next morning, the three of them drove the 800 kilometres to Brasov, Romania, where they arrived at around 7 pm. A quick dinner at OM Romania and off to bed for three hours’ sleep. Punctually at 00:00 that night, they set off on the last part of the journey. What Tim didn’t realise at the time was that if they had wanted to make the journey in four days as planned, they would probably have got stuck in Romania. You should know that the Carpathian Mountains begin after Brasov. This is a mountain range somewhat smaller than the Alps, but there is only one way over several passes. Around or through is not an option. Things got dicey more than once during his night-time journey. It was so cold that the fog on the road made Tim happy and he skidded through the roundabout despite his slow speed. Luckily it was one o’clock at night and there was no other car around. In some places, the fog was so thick that he couldn’t see 10 metres and had to crank around in first gear. On the whole, however, everything went well. He reached the Romania-Moldova border at five o’clock in the morning and even had to wait because there was another car in front of them! A short sleep break, more fog and two entertaining three-question mark stories later, he reached our home at around 8 o’clock.
But Silvia: “Why did he almost get stuck in Romania?” you ask me. Because it looked like this the next day. And the Carpathians were completely closed for one or two days.
Finally again
in our grumpy home
After we were all back home, one after the other fell ill. We hadn’t actually planned it that way, and we didn’t even have time for it. After all, there was a packed car outside and we should have turned up at work again.
Instead, we had a rest at home and unloaded half the car. In case you’re wondering why we only unloaded half the car. Well, unfortunately the side and/or rear doors often freeze shut in the cold temperatures. This time it was the side door and as nobody had the energy to deal with the problem, we just left these things in the car a little longer.
Why did I choose the title “grumpy home”? Firstly because autocorrect corrected it and then because it somehow fits. Since we’ve been back home, we’ve had two pets again. One of our cats, Strubelmutz, is back. We are very pleased about this. We also have another animal in the house. Not necessarily a pet. But it scrapes and scratches so loudly over our bedroom every night that sometimes we can hardly fall asleep. The children puzzle over what kind of animal this could be: Marten, mouse, bear (probably not) or the gruffello?
When Tim and I can’t fall asleep again, we puzzle over how we can get the animal to the afterlife. Poison, trap, shoot with a stick or hit with a rifle?
Murder suggestions are very welcome! But it could also be that it simply commits suicide. This is when it nibbles on the loose power cables lying around on the screed. In any case, the neighbour has organised a ladder today so that Tim can go hunting. Depending on the outcome, you’ll either read about it here in our next blog or in your newspaper (Swiss man, 38, eaten by tiger in screed in Moldova).
VIVOS,
our latest project
Still reading along? Great, because there’s news hot off the press here. In the last newsletter, we promised to tell you more about our latest project. We have been working in the background for some time on a new way to help here in Moldova.
With VIVOS, we want to start a national community movement by inspiring and empowering local groups to independently bring hope and boldly find their own solutions. To this end, we would like to build up a network of regional inspiration and meeting places over the next few years. If people are inspired and want to invest in their environment, they receive training/coaching from us and are embedded in a network of like-minded people. You can find out more at vivos.md.
Vision meeting
In mid-December, we met for the first time with 10 interested people for the first vision meeting in Switzerland. The aim was to work together to find ways to help from Switzerland. It was exciting to see how many good ideas emerged. It always pays off when you tackle something together.
We will report here from time to time on the progress of the project. However, this is our family blog, the details are not here but in the VIVOS newsletter. You can register here if you would like to receive this information.
