Re-entry was far from easy, the tears were plentiful, the jet lag was intense, unpacking was an explosion of mess followed by a marathon laundry session,  the rain kept coming along with the tears and the back to school madness. My French Swiss brain had def not turned back on and if I had to read one more letter about bus times, school supplies, creche times, UAPE times,  school times and teachers requests I was going to…… ahhhhhh!!!  One fine tipped, 1.5 mm silver, not the light silver or the dark silver, but the middle silver, not the generic brand, but the brand that costs you like 30 swiss francs and can only be found in one store in all of Switzerland… Yes, that’s the one… that’s the pen!!… Victory!!!… Take that!!! Ha!!!!  Here you go 4 year old- pack that in your back pack and take that to school! Wait, what’s that- it’s not the right pen you say…(insert swearing, screaming and hair pulling.) Another year, another defeat…  I will never get it right and you know what…I think I am just going to be okay with the fact that I am the stupid foreigner who will never nail the back to school list… EVER.

But we made it through that first week back and I started to breath again and sleep again and despite all the cultural differences and the language struggles… We have a beautiful life here. My kids are lucky. Lucky to live in this unique bubble of international goodness, a melange of cultures and friends from all over the world. A place where they can be wild and free and covered in dirt- feral little mountain children disappearing down a trail to find an adventure.

Swiss life… we are back!

and of course so happy to be eating cheese again…