And in an instant it happened. Dreams of washing down Belgian-chocolate-covered Belgian waffles with a sudsy Trappist or Abbey beer vanished without so much as a burp.
Our sights are now keenly set on the Alps where large St. Bernards with their mini casks of brandy will follow us as we read Heidi and arrive excruciatingly on time.
It is true that we were 99.8% sure that our next city would be Brussels; we had started to look for apartments and the Pretty European was slated to start work for the European Union on 1 October. But in a move that would do any ninja proud, the 0.2% option sneaked in and made us an offer we couldn’t refuse.
The Fédération Internationale de Football Association, ironically headquartered in Zurich, swooped in and nailed the 35-meter free kick over the 6-man wall and into the upper V (see what I did there?) to score an incredible translator along with her wise-cracking American who thinks the mountains are “totally rad”.
That is the story. This all happened a week ago and now I’m learning German. Sehr gut, haben Sie ein Lieblingszahl? Ja, mien Lieblingszahl ist fünfundfünfzig. Ich stamme aus den USA und ich habe zwei Büche. Meine Schürze ist blau, der Himmel auch ist blau.
Sorry, Brussels, I hardly knew thee. Hello, Zurich. Um, your money is funny lookin’ and they say your German is funny soundin’ but I think we can get along.
Where’s the line for the free St. Bernard with the cask of brandy? No, I don’t need the dog.
Now go fetch us some snifters.
[Image courtesy of http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/activityandadventure/5342916/Hiking-through-the-St-Bernard-Pass.html%5D
roughly translated 
Wait…who got a job there, you or Amaia??
Amaia the rockstar got the job at FIFA 🙂
When you coming? 😛
jaw-dropping… congrats Amaia, very nice! If I can help you somehow in soccer speaking terms, I’ll be so proud to do it!
Hahaha, thanks for the comment, Ger. I love how you called it soccer!
Awesome stuff!! Congrats guys. When are you out of here? We always have a spare room for when you visit. You *will* visit, right….? :’-(
LennOX,
We are leaving at the end of this month so the clock is a-ticking. And to answer your question, of course we will visit, this has been on of the best cities for us. We really like it here, but if the winds push us away, they may too pull us back.
Sounds like she will be working with Fonzie 🙂 Congrats!!!
She will be! And we’ll be a lot closer! We looked it up, only 2.5 hours to Stuttgart!
Things you need to do to prepare: buy hiking shoes, lederhosen, and a horn to join the Ricola boys on the mountain. Awesome news.
Hahaha, thanks for the tips. Now if I could just find those things on the cheap….
Dude! This is so crazy and awesome. Congratulations! Whoa, we are totally going to visit you in Zurich now. And FIFA? How rad is that!!
Yay! We are closer to yous too!
Sorry I contributed to the 0.2 % sneaking in last minute 😛
No apologies necessary, I can’t say I’m not stoked to go!