The Swiss Tennis Experience

Nate and I really got into playing tennis with each other before we moved, so we were determined to keep it up. We shipped our tennis racquets, balls, and shoes, but when we got there, we didn't see any courts. We came to find out that most of the courts are indoors and there is no such thing as a public tennis court! We were not too happy to find that out, so I started asking around where to play. I made a friend at church who also played college tennis and she invited me to a doubles tennis social. I had no idea what to expect and I hadn't played in two months, so I was worried I'd be a little rusty. When I went out to play, I was, indeed very rusty, but I ended up having a wonderful time. There were people of all ages (even though I think I was the youngest one there) and everyone was so nice. Also, they all spoke English!! That was the best part!

Here is a picture of the indoor court facility... it was very nice

Funny tidbits: It is hard to play social tennis after being an instructor. I caught myself giving people pointers because that is just the teacher in me... oops! They probably didn't appreciate it, but once I told some people I used to teach, they said... oh, it makes sense now! Also, before coming to Switzerland, I had never, ever, paid to play tennis... usually, people paid me to play with them. But I had no choice, if I wanted to play, I had to pay... around $40! It was almost $500 for the coordinator to rent 3 courts for 3 hours.

The surface was ... believe it or not... carpet.

I had never even heard of playing tennis on carpet. It had a similar feel to playing on grass because the ball skids easily. It was really hard to return a fast ball with a lot of spin. I wasn't used to it, so I felt like an amateur when I was returning a fast serve. I somehow misjudged the ball and framed it a couple times... so embarrassing!

Here is a closer look at the carpet...

Snow in Basel

Before moving to Basel, I was looking forward to having snow around Christmas and throughout winter. I mean, it's Switzerland... the land of chocolate, cheese, and I thought, snow! Once we moved there, we were told that it rarely snows in Basel because of its location... so needless to say, we were a little disappointed. Much to our surprise, it snowed for three days straight in the beginning of December. It was a light snow, but it was absolutely beautiful. Nate says that there was a "blizzard" right before he left to come to Raleigh for Christmas (I had already flown home), but unfortunately, I don't have any video or pictures for proof! The funny thing is, the snow doesn't really stick. It sticks a little to the roof tops and trees, but melts once it hits the road. It accumulates on the grass, but there's not much of that in the city! Everyone says if you go just 10 minutes outside the city everything is covored with snow. Fortunately, I got to see that on my train ride to the Zurich Airport... and they were right... fields, hills, and forests just covered in fresh snow. It really got me in the Christmas spirit!

Here are a few pictures from the first time it snowed in Basel. I was so excited, I took pictures out of every window in our apartment (which isn't much!), but here they are...

The view from our cozy bedroom... the rooftops are red-orange

The view from the balcony... to the left and the right The view looking down the street from the living room

Looking out the living room windows

Here is a picture of one of the central areas for trams... there is some light snow on the rooftops. Can you find the McDonald's?