New Easter Traditions

Why dye your own when you can buy Easter eggs that look like this? Hard-boiled and colorful, I bought these eggs from the supermarket. I have actually seen colored eggs in the store year-round here; my theory is that they're colored so that it's easy to know which ones are cooked when they're in your refrigerator. Now, the eggs are much brighter and more plentiful in preparation for Easter.

Next to the colored eggs at the supermarket were bags of onion skins for sale. Yes, just the onion skins and no onions. Wondering what they're for? I did too. My best guess at the store was perhaps a substitute for the messy Easter grass. However, upon further research online, the onion peels are actually for dying eggs. This is the natural approach to dying eggs, especially compared with the bright colors in the picture. I'm going to have to try the onion skins method; it is supposed to dye the eggs a yellowish/brown color with a neat pattern from the onion peel. In short, the eggs are wrapped first in the skins, and then in cloth prior to boiling. If you're interested, you can find recipes online. I will also follow up on whether or not this is successful.

The kids begin their 2-week holiday for Easter. The Easter bunny stopped by Landon's classroom today to drop off chocolate for their homemade Easter baskets. The kids thought this was fantastic! I couldn't help thinking that this would never happen in the U.S., but the Christian religious holidays are celebrated in school here. It's acceptable for us because we celebrate these holidays (along with most of the other families in the class). Arguably, the kids miss out on learning about other religions in school, but it's a refreshing change to what we're used to.

One part of living an expat (expatriate) life is that many people that you get to know are also expats, and thus could move away. We have met many friends from all over the world, particularly through school, and it's easy to fast become family friends. We often have to rely on these friends to help get around and find out the best way to do things. And so sadly, this week we had to say goodbye to a family that was moving back to the U.S. The boys really got along well with their kids, so it's hard to have good friends and playmates leave. As we settled in, they helped us find the best grocery stores, we looked forward to seeing them at church, and they gave us tips on what to scope out while we're here. We were able to do some special things together before they left such as visiting Lucerne, the Basel Paper Museum, and a tram dinner (parents night-out). You know who you are, and we'll miss seeing you so often, but we will definitely be in touch. Thank you for everything!