Prelude to a farewell....genau!

One of the first Swiss-German words I registered and thereafter frequently heard expressed by the Swiss is 'genau'. Not knowing what it meant I was sometimes amused to hear it being expressed at every turn of a conversation. Actually it is an expression of agreement - exactly, true, correct, of course etc etc. I am still somewhat tickled by the word, or probably the way and frequency it is said. Ja genau! Genau, genau!!

Well I won't be hearing much of 'genau' after a week's time. At 1.30 pm today my houseful of belongings left in a container for home, after two days of super-efficient and hassle-free packing. Again Swiss efficiency at its best! A team made up of a Swiss, a Czech, a Bosnian and a Lebanese worked from 9 am to 2.30 pm with half hour lunch break on the first day and packed over 80% of my things. Yesterday they finished the rest from 9 to 11.30 am and today they loaded the 398 items into the container from 11 am to 1 pm! Tomorrow my car goes into another container and both are expected to arrive in Malaysia on 25 Feb, Insha Allah.

In a week I will leave this almost perfect country for good. Still some farewell obligations to fulfill but I am glad somehow that I was given short notice for my departure. The perfect excuse to regret the out pour of invitations to farewell lunches and dinners. On Saturday I will host a luncheon for 30 of my close Swiss friends, and Tuesday another luncheon for my staff and closer members of the Malaysian community.

The two boys, my domestic pillars, will go their separate ways thereafter. Meor will remain in Switzerland and get married to his fiancee this Summer. Hafiz has thankfully secured a job at our UN office in Geneva. He will accompany me home first and sort out his papers for his new now Swiss job. I am very happy for him, a most deserving 'reward' after his four years of diligent service to me.

The remaining days will no doubt breeze by. It snowed again early this evening. From my now empty bedroom I see my garden in pristine whiteness. God, how am I going to drive my car to the container station with all that snow on the road! Well, that's Yocki's (my most cool and efficient transport pillar) job. Meor will have to first clear the path for the car to even get out of the garage.

While having lunch I saw my garden's lone black squirrel fleeting about on the snow covered lawn and hopping on trees, probably looking for food (I wrote about it in my 14 Nov 2008 entry entitled 'My Ginkgo Tree'). I had been watching this very squirrel in my garden from the day I moved into this house four years ago.

What a marvellous, happy, independent creature! May you always remain happy and content in this beautiful garden that had also given me so much joy at every seasons - GENAU!