Only shops in the main train station were open. We could at least get a couple of drinks before taking a short stroll and later having a seat on one of our favourite benches.
Michael wanted to have his flag photos, so I took some too. Blue and white are for Zürich!
Ich habe die Idee zwar von einem anderen Blog “geklaut”, aber ich mache den Posten am Mittwoch statt am Sonntag. Ich weiss, “statt” muss man mit Genitiv benutzen, aber ich sag es lieber mit Dativ.
Ich schätze, dass ich diese Woche kaum erledigen würde, weil ich einfach faul und krank bin. Ich hatte gestern Heuschnupfen und das war richtig unangenehm.
Michi hat gesagt, dass ich den nächsten Deutschkurs besuchen solle. Hmm…
Was habe ich vom letzten Mittwoch bis heute gemacht?
Gekauft: Memebox Aloe Vera, Nici Beauty Pferd, Lush No Drought, eine Bommeldekoration von Manor
Gelesen: Dark Secrets von Lara Steel auf Deutsch fertig gelesen
Gehört: No. 13 Danses des Cygnes
Gesehen: viele britische Sendungen (Commonwealth Games, BBC News)
Gespielt: Magic Piano mit dem iPad
Gemacht: noch einen Teddybearpullover
Getan: viele Blythe-Puppendinge organisiert (und gelagert)
Gewünscht: einen Ara Nici Plüschtier und Memeboxen
Gefreut: über die regnerischen Sommertage, auf Bestellungen von Deutschland
Geärgert: über mich, weil ich in letzter Zeit spät aufgestanden bin
Bilder der Woche
Schokolade der Woche // Der gestrickte Pullover // Nici Pferd Beauty
Blythe Anziehsachen von Justine // Bommeldekoration // Trockenshampoo
Spätzli has shown some signs of aging for the past couple of months. He’s now a little over 1 year and 7 months old. He had flaky and slightly scabby skin, so we took him to the vet. The vet insisted it was a bacterial infection and gave him antibiotics, plus an oral probiotic paste. At the same time, he was also treated for parasites even though there was no evidence of it.
After following the course of antibiotics, there was no improvement. I wasn’t convinced that there was anything more the vet could do besides extensive hormonal tests, so I just made little adjustments to his home, such as removing rough hay and sand, and trying to use only soft soil and tissue paper inside his house, where he spends most of his time rubbing against. I am also still feeding him the probiotic paste every other day, which I think is good in any case.
His fur is becoming sparse in some areas, like the back of his neck. You can also see his dry ears. He does not look so bad in person, and he’s still quite active. I’ve just started rubbing a tiny bit of aloe vera gel on his ears and flaky areas, and I think it’s helping to relieve the dryness. I get to do this only once a day, so results are slow. I also don’t want to use too much in case he ingests it.
Here he is on my lap. I put him on a tea towel because he sometimes brings soil over from his cage or makes a small mess when he eats fresh corn on my lap. After his snack, he sometimes sleeps on me for an hour, and sometimes only for 10 minutes or less. He tells me when he would like to go home by climbing onto and putting all four feet on my palm. If I put him down, he’ll do it again, and that’s when I’m sure that he wants to go home. I find that too cute. ^-^ It’s definitely something he came up with, and he’s been using it since he first trusted me.
I started a new book ages ago and I am only halfway through it. This one is really difficult and full of unfamiliar words. I normally read before bed and I am too lazy to look the words up, so I guess I hardly learn anything this way. I can still follow the story though.
Ich habe ein neues Buch schon lange angefangen, und ich habe nur das halbe gelesen. Es ist wirklich schwer zu lesen und enthält viele unbekannte Wörter. Normalerweise lese ich bevor ich einschlafe, und ich bin zu faul, die neuen Wörter nachzuschauen. Darum schätze ich, dass ich auf diese Weise kaum etwas Neues lernen würde. Trotzdem kann ich die Geschichte verstehen.
Well, I know my German is not perfect so please be kind if you find any errors. I think this might be a good way to help me practise writing, though I think my German sounds more formal than it should be.
Na ja, Ich weiss doch, dass mein Deutsch nicht perfekt ist, also seid bitte nett, wenn ihr Fehler herausfindet. Ich denke, dass ich auf diese Weise Schreiben üben kann, obwohl mein Deutsch sehr förmlich klingt als es sollte.
I don’t feel like narrating much this time. These are just some pictures from 3 separate days of walking. The top most was the best, weather wise. The other two days were gloomy. Zürich is a very lovely city.
The month of May is going to be really busy. German class has started again, but this time it’s intensive. The worst part is getting up early. Every night I have Spätzli to tend to, and by the time I get to bed, it’s nearly 1am. It’s a real struggle to not have dark puffy eyes every morning. Why couldn’t they have afternoon intensive classes as well? I would pounce on those in a heartbeat.
I ended up taking a Perlsacktier friend to class with me one day. His name is Herzig, the Swiss word for “cute” and “hearty”! He is a raccoon with purple stripes.
The entire week since class started, Michael was away at a conference in Paris. I was so lonely, and I must say that I hardly looked after myself when it came to meals. I was so relieved when he returned. We had a fun time out on Saturday. The above photo was taken at our bus stop in Affoltern. The tree is so beautiful with its pink flowers. So many other trees had red leaves; they reminded me of autumn.
I took another Perlsacktier out with us, this one called Hubert, the spotted goat. We found a new large white Furby plush at Manor. It’s surprising how much cheaper some toys are at Manor (department store) compared to Franz Carl Weber (specialist toy store). I couldn’t resist.
Finally, we had a short break sitting on a bench and watching people go by. Later that day, we watched Iron Man at Kitag (cinema). Yes, we love action movies. They are worth the money spent, if only for their loud sounds and visual effects.
Now to study for Monday’s German test. Argh!
When Daylight Savings Time began just days ago, it became very difficult to even see my little guy. He would start coming out at 1.30 am, which would be impossible for me to manage in the long run. I was worried, unsure of what to do.
Yesterday, I decided to wake up earlier to see him before he retreats to his bed. I got up at 8am on the dot, and there he was, running on his wheel. I took him out, got some photos, fed him his treats. I noticed that he hardly ate the vegetables and nuts, instead storing them in his pouches. He was also too excited or in a hurry for some reason; He didn’t want to sit still. It was basically no fun seeing him before he went to bed.
I did notice one other thing. I opened up my curtains to let some light in, and after I locked his cage doors, he gathered some dry food, had a drink and then went into his burrow for the day. The bright daylight signalled to him that it was time for bed. So… I figured this was how I could train him to get up earlier at night. My brown curtains were always closed until I woke up; They must have been too dark all along.
Since he went to bed early after I opened the curtains, he got out earlier at night, more in line with the time he used to wake up. Success! Last night, I opened up my curtains just before I went to bed. I think this is the only way to get him up earlier, but I’m now happy there’s a trick to this. Hopefully, he’ll soon even wake up before midnight.
As you know by now, we have a hamster!
We originally wanted to have mice, so they could fit into the smaller Ferplast cages. However, we could not find any mice to adopt. It is not a pet that is popular in Zurich. We even looked for breeders, but there were none. So, we chose the next best: a Syrian hamster. They live alone, which is a plus. Even though I wanted a pet, I didn’t want to be overrun like before.
Originally, I wanted to get one from a breeder, but I have no idea why we ended up choosing from a pet store instead. It was probably impatience! I did not know he was not tamed, until I saw him try to bite the shop assistant’s hand. Oops…. but it was too late to change our minds. We adopted Spätzli on 4th February, and had to work hard to get him to trust us, or rather, me. I deal with him the most. 😀 He is black and white with short hair, and he was already 7 weeks old at the time of adoption.
At first, the very sound of my voice scared him. Then, changes in my voice scared him. After that, my angry voice scared him when he bit me. He slowly got used to me, but still didn’t like being picked up. I bribed him with treats of fresh veggies and almond pieces, and only gave them to him when he sat on my hands. If he did not let me hold him, there would be no treats.
Fast forward five weeks, and we have one tamed little cutie that really has an odd schedule. He would only get up after 12 midnight, and would be in bed by 8.30 in the morning. Since I am no early riser, I wait until after midnight to see him. I change his dry food and water just before midnight, so these noises wake him up gently. If I have to do some cleaning of his cage, I would wake him up earlier by lifting his house. It’s evil and I don’t like doing it, but I cannot clean his place at 12 in the morning! It’s a good thing he doesn’t really soil his home like rats and mice would. I just need to change his tissue paper bedding and perhaps scoop out a bit of his litter. He is the cleanest pet I have ever had.
That brings me to the topic of his litter. I did some reading, and found that using soil is very effective in cutting down smells. Others have tried it with good results. The soil absorbs urine and masks smells, just like in nature. Of course one can’t use garden soil because of all the insects and fertilisers present. What I use is compressed soil blocks you can get at the reptile section of the pet store. I used Plantation Soil by Exo Terra. I expanded the bricks with water, then partially dried off the soil by airing some in broad, shallow containers. Baking would be faster and better since it also kills insects and germs, but it requires much more work, and you could potentially end up with a dirty oven. I give my little guy a lice, mite and worm treatment, so I’m not too troubled by simply air-drying the soil. I also mix his soil litter with bark and wood chips, which seems to work fine too.
We also got a Wodent Wheel for him, which he absolutely loves. He uses it every night after our play time. He is a pro runner!
I also give him back rubs while he lays on my lap. He loves it! It’s so fun to see him stretch, yawn and grind his teeth while on my lap.
In the above photo, you can see he has the cutest little lower jaw which is white, while the rest of his head is black. To me, this makes him look like a little guinea pig! <3
Here is one last flattering midnight photo of Spätzli, but not so flattering for me:
I find it too cute when he looks at my phone while I take pictures! He’s become quite photogenic after only a short time.
