I've been thinking of Switzerland this morning. Why, you ask? Well, what set it off was probably the weather. They say smells can trigger memory - so if smells can, so can touch, and my skin is prickling with the weather, which is cold, damp and cloudy and the sun setting before I leave work (there when I was a slacker and left at 4:15 every day because I took "short" 1 hour lunches) and here when I leave after 5. Ah, a true Swiss fall right here in Houston.

Add to that, I've been following Karen (and now Brian's) attempts to have Thanksgiving in Europe. I've been reading Nick's Page du Jour. Of and on, I've heard Buzz talk about her three years in England. Last year at this time, my mom and I were trotting around the nether-regions of Switzerland, visiting city (Bern), town and lac (Montreux), and mountains and alpsee's (Zermatt). It was weird last year, when I stopped in to say "Happy Thanksgiving" to the one American full-time engineer and he had completely forgotten Thanksgiving was even coming up.

So, anyway, that's what set me off thinking about Switzerland and living in Europe and living in Houston. They give us this lecture here at training academy about adjusting to other cultures, and how people go through phases -- honeymoon, hostility, habit, and home. The Canadian co-ops there had gotten a similar lecture about how it takes a full year to adjust to another culture (it was complete with this roller coaster-like diagram, which I can REALLY relate to). I think when I left Switzerland I had just transitioned from hostility to habit. There were LOTS of praktikants who started with me that were still in hostility mode, and you'd here lots of muttering (in various languages) "DAMNED SWISS... F*cking pricks anal retentive rules no laundry on Sunday stupid stadt haus fines damned polizi freakin' Frau Schmidt Closed from 9 to noon on Monday and at 5 every day not open Sunday Religion tax nonesense."

Ok, I digress. Even remembering all this, reading about everyone else's experiences makes me want to go live abroad again. If nothing else, it was exciting (nerve racking, emotionally draining...) -- it was a challenge, with really wonderful rewards. Now, I've long since decided that I don't think I could live abroad permanently. I think something like an alternating assignment - 1 year in America, 1 year abroad, a year back in America, blah blah blah, would be awesome. I think part of the reason is, I've finally gone through all four phases of being reindoctrinated into America. When I first got back (nearly a year ago) I revelled in things like watching TV, going to the grocery store at 2 a.m. and ordering pizza to be delivered. Hostility came with the summer weather. And now this is home.

So I'm balanced, and I need something to upset my equilibrium. So, I'm getting itchy feet again. I don't know if I can wait for Greece to be my next trip to Europe. I've decided to put away some money for a cheap springtime airfare, and I'll either go there. Or Mexico. Or the Carribean. Oh, I'm so undecided.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

Now, I just need to figure out how to make a cherry pie.