I'm here!

Sorry, I know it's taken me forever to update this. I appreciate that there are a few people that have been checking though. It makes me feel loved! I've been a bit homesick for the past couple of days, which might also have been an influence in not posting. I didn't want to put a negative spin on something that's been so fantastic.
The flight to Basel felt like it took FOREVER. I didn't sleep on the plane, which was great since I quickly got over jet lag but put me in the worst mood when I arrived in London. I don't remember much about the bus ride from Gatwick to Heathrow other than sheep and cows, which I suppose is really all there is to see anyway from one airport to another. Then I wound up sitting in Heathrow for 5 hours until my next flight. Tons of duty-free shopping though.
When I finally landed I was greeted by Anke and Claudio (my little partner in crime). He was apprehensive and quiet at first, but we're getting along much better now. On leaving the airport, Anke took me around to see the little cities around this area of France and a little bit of Germany and unfortunately what struck me more than anything else was the similarity to the buildings in Epcot. I hope it's not that way everywhere. I suppose it's nice though that Disney got it spot on.
For the first few days, Dorota, the former au pair was there as well. She's Polish, so it was nice to hear a little more about Poland and also what they think of Americans (we're fat and ambitious is the general scheme I'm getting from everyone). She was incredibly cool and I wish she could have stayed longer. We explored the neighboring city of Basel together and also went to see La Boheme at the Basel Theatre (a welcome present for me and a going away present for Dorota from Anke). It was an interesting show. I expected a very realistic representation but it was instead very symbolic in some ways and I'm still trying to decipher some of the director's choices...like setting Act 2 in a ski resort... But the Roderigo was awesome, the Mimi decent enough. One thing that stuck me though was how long the curtain call lasted. It kind of reminded me of when I saw Christine Ebersole on broadway and she was so full of herself that she stood on stage for 15 minutes until everyone kind of relented and gave her a standing ovation. Except in the case of the Swiss they just kept applauding and applauding. I think the final count was 7 curtain calls. Does this happen anywhere in America and I've just been missing out. I don't want to assume anything since I've only encountered it in a one time occurrence but the impression is that they were intensely appreciative.
But now Dorota has gone back to Poland so I am mostly left to adventure alone. Although I think, my neighbor almost went to Basel with me today...through no intentional invitation. My neighbors are all I swear the friendliest people I've ever met. I had coffee and cake with my neighbors upstairs (alexis and albertine) which was an aide in improving my French. My next door neighbor, Christophe always stands outside the door so I'm kind of forced to talk to him. Today I was trying to be nice and asked him his plans for the afternoon and such and so on and before i knew it he thought i was extending the invitation to spend the afternoon with me. And that was my poorly explained social awkwardness of the day. I suppose it's not so bad. I just don't want my 35 year old neighbor thinking I'm asking him out.
Claudio and I are getting along fine. He's a bit clingy to his mother which is kind of annoying but he's getting better. It would be easier if she didn't work at home. I think I'm going to wind up fixing him intricate meals for lunch though which is difficult as cooking and watching a 2 year old and paying enough attention to him so that he doesn't go crying for mother don't really all coincide one another. The meals aren't really that complex, it's just hard to do everything at one time. Other than that it's just a lot of playing with toy cars. I said "Aye yey yey" one time when he dropped something and now it's the new catch phrase in that he says it about 60 times a day. It's actually cute, but I feel bad for having started something.
I'm trying to decide what to do this weekend. I went to Basel again this afternoon... It all depends if my bike is fixed by then (I sprung a gear or something, the chain is loose). I'm also going to be taking two language courses soon hopefully. One in french and another in German. Knowing german will be convenient as I'm 5 minutes away from Germany and German speaking Swiss and I feel like an idiot going "Um, English?"