Episode 1: May 2005

We begin our inaugural edition with the month of May, a very special month for us. Following Neal’s graduation with an MBA from the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan at the end of April, we packed up Neal’s apartment – well, we supervised the movers (or removalists in Australia-talk) at least – and, with Neal’s parents in tow, we headed to Oklahoma. We spent a very relaxing five days with Neal’s parents place in Stillwater, Oklahoma. While we were there, we were visited by Neal’s uncle, aunt, and their four kids. They all finally got a chance to meet Deb and spend some quality time with us. On our last full day in Oklahoma (May 8), Neal’s parents hosted a farewell/engagement/graduation party for us at a local reception centre called Meditations. The party was wonderful. We had the chance to meet many of Neal’s relatives and close family friends, as well as reunite with some of his high school friends who drove from as far as 8 hours away. The support and well wishes were amazing and truly appreciated!

The day after the party, we had a teary farewell at the airport in Oklahoma City as we boarded our first flight (of many) to Melbourne. For logistical reasons, we took an extremely indirect route…via Zurich. We flew from Oklahoma City to Chicago to Zurich to Singapore to Melbourne! Luckily, we had a five-hour layover in Zurich, and we took advantage of the time by going home to the apartment in Thalwil and both having quick showers and a new change of clothes before turning around and heading back for the airport. Finally, after a 44-hour journey nearly around the world, we arrived in Melbourne.

[Before getting into our time in Melbourne, there are two interesting points to make. First, Singapore Airlines is, indeed, the best airline in the world. The service was fantastic (something Neal has not experienced on the U.S. airlines in a long time) and the services were amazing. Though we were sitting in “cattle class”, we had 60 inflight movies to choose from, not to mention TV shows and CDs on demand. Singapore airport, in Neal’s opinion, is the most traveler-friendly airport in the world. Stores are open late, there are plenty of things to do, lots of space to rest, and free Internet stations to keep people occupied. If these things seem like odd observations, think about the last time you had services like that! In Neal’s opinion (truth be told, we owe this part of the journal to his warped mind), these are truly rare traveling “luxuries”. Okay, now that we have that off Neal’s chest, let’s return back to our story!]

The reunion at the Melbourne airport was wonderful as was the following nine days there. There was a huge welcoming party there, including Deb’s family and friends. The highlight of the entire trip was our engagement party there that we had during our first weekend in Australia. This was Neal’s turn to meet a load (and we do mean a load!) of family, immediate and extended, and reconnect with friends.

The rest of our time in Melbourne was spent catching up with friends and spending as much time with family as possible…the same itinerary as in Oklahoma! As an early birthday gift to Deb, Carol took us (Neal, Deb, and Anna) to see an arena version of Grease that featured several of Australia’s stage and screen stars. We also found some time to shop for some of the big purchases we wanted for our new home together. We bought a chocolate-brown soft set and an antique Chinese cabinet. Near the end of our stay in Melbourne, we once again supervised the removalists (or movers in American-talk) as they packed up Deb’s things from the storage facility where they have been for two years. On Friday, May 20 we had another teary farewell at Melbourne airport (an all too familiar situation for Deb), only this time our feelings of sadness were mixed with the excitement of being together for the first time to share our lives together on a day-to-day basis and starting life together in Switzerland.

After a slightly shorter journey (24 hours) back to Zurich, during which we watched many, many moves, we arrived in Switzerland on May 21. Upon arriving at our apartment in Thalwil, we unpacked, did some much-needed grocery shopping, and even set Neal up with the most important electrical accessory of them all…a cell phone. In order to get over jet lag as best as possible, we chose not to take a mid-afternoon nap and tried our best to stay busy. Deb made that possible by reserving some weeks ago two spots at a 70’s-themed party at the Dow Tennis Club. After all our afternoon shopping, we went to a nearby costume store (with Deb’s friend, Maria) and put together a makeshift 70’s wardrobe, complete with glasses and afros. Despite our best efforts to be prepared, we were still surprised when we arrived at the party. We three were the only people at the party (out of some 60-70 people) who were dressed up! We wore our costumes with pride but could not help laughing at how ridiculous we looked compared to everyone else.

The next big event came on May 23, Neal’s first day of work in his return to Dow Chemical. It was a rather uneventful day. Everything went well, but Neal (being the industrious MBA that he is) found the first day slower than he would have liked. Easy, Neal, easy! To celebrate Neal’s first day of work we went to dinner after work with a friend of ours, Patty Dematia, from Midland. Patty also works for Dow and happened to be in Zurich to visit her cousin, Jen, and then attend a wedding in France. Through Patty, Jen and Deb have become friends recently. We went to a traditional Swiss restaurant for a typically-Swiss dinner and a great catch-up over a few beers.

Heading out from the restaurant, we came across, quite possibly, the cutest thing ever displayed in Switzerland. This summer is officially the summer of the teddy bear in Zurich. For the entire summer, Zurich is home to 600 fiberglass teddy bears, each approximately five-feet tall. Each bear is unique and is dressed/painted in its own funky theme. The idea behind the bears is to provide a way to showcase young artists’ talents. Individuals can actually buy any of the teddy bears, each priced at a reasonable (yeah right) 2,000 CHF. To make things better, the money will go to charity. Unfortunately, that is not enough motivation to get us to bite. What on earth would we do with a giant fiberglass teddy?! Nevertheless, Deb thinks the teddy bears are the greatest thing ever, and we now have (no kidding) nearly 100 of the bears photographed. She cannot resist!

May 26 was Deb’s birthday and the first one that the two of us have shared together. Neal arranged a wonderful birthday dinner for me! After work, we headed across the lake to a town named Kusnacht. We ate at a restaurant named Peterman’s Kunststuben (translation: Peterman’s art house). The restaurant was divine! It came recommended to us in our new favorite travel book (1,000 Places to See Before You Die – we highly recommend it to adventurous travelers). So, the majority of Deb’s birthday was spent over a fantastic four-hour culinary experience. Not too shabby! Neal made sure to spoil Deb the entire day…and Deb made sure to enjoy every minute of it.

The next day we went into Zurich to see the latest production put on by the Zurich Comedy Club, in which Deb is a member of and has performed in a musical. We met up with Deb’s friend Vicki, who also lives in the Zurich area, and her partner, Laurent. Together, we watched a production of the play Bold Girls, which starred Deb’s good friend Michelle! The play was great, and we followed it up with a late dinner in the Seefeld, a hoity-toity part of Zurich around the corner from the theatre. On Saturday, we did some shopping in Zurich, took loads of pictures of the teddy bears, caught up with Deb’s friends, Daphne and Maria, for dinner. On Sunday we relaxed by the lake for most of the day until time came to head into town to see the latest Star Wars movie (which stunk, to a lesser extent, like the earlier two films). We followed the movie with dinner with Deb’s Australian friends, Ces and Steve, at a fabulous asian restaurant near the cinema named Angkor.

And that was the end of the weekend. The next day, we returned to work…and prepared for the start of a new month! Looking back, the highlight of May (in addition to the seemingly endless inflight movies on Singapore Airlines, the best airline around) was our world tour engagement party and, of course, the start of our new life together. We are finally on the same continent! And so our journey begins….

Number of “places to see before we die” remaining: 999.