Party

August first is independence day in Switzerland. In the moutains it is customary to start large bonfires. In the cities and larger villages there are often fireworks displays. As part of the festivities Baden will be having its own fireworks display that will occur about 200 meters from my balcony. Since we will have such prime seats to the show we have decided to invite a few friends over for the evening.

It is difficult to plan a party in Europe. Justing thinking about getting enough food home from the store hurts my arms. And what about the drinks. Beer, wine, soda, it weights a ton. And on top of that the refridgerators are so small there is no room to keep anything cold. I do have a cooler, however I haven't seen ice for sale like in the US. I've started making some ice in my own shoebox of a freezer but I know I won't have enough to keep the drinks cold.

I was thinking about getting some chips and salsa, but a bag of nacho chips to feed about two people is 5 CHF (Swiss Francs). That means I'd have to spend about 20 CHF just to cover the small group that will be coming over.

It will be difficult to prepare any of the food before hand just because there is no room in our tinz fridge to keep it for a day or two before the party.

This party idea is making for a very interesting learning experience. I can't wait to see what happens on Tuesday.

The Swiss View on Moutain Biking

I can really appreciate the Swiss view on exercising. I meet a group of people from the office after work today that make a habit of moutain biking on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Appartently there is a direct coorilation between the nubmer of kilometers riden and the number of beers one is allowed to drink after the ride before one should feel guilty.

I rode a lot, and had a few beers. This is good.

By the way, is anyone reading this? Post a comment if you are.

German Classes

Today we had our first German class with Frau Jacob. It was 1 hour and 30 minutes of pure learning. I hadn't been in an environment like that in quite some years. The teacher student relationship is something that I had put in my past but here it is again.

Frau Jacob seems great although it is kind of funny to think that she is coaching along adults that are essentially speaking like little babies. We practiced introductions and greetings. Several times I introduced myself as Ms. Carmen Sans, or Ms. Helgi Org, not really paying attention to if the names were male or female. If I could just pronounce the words correctly I was quite happy.

Then we switched over to spelling. I can tell that spelling will be hard for me. Consanants are easy but the vowel sounds are so different I can tell I'll have trouble with this in the future.

We'll be going to class twice a week so I'm fairly confident that I'll get up to speed quickly. I just hope I can keep the commitment because 3 hours a week is quite a bit of time. But really, the language is in my mind a key to becoming more comfortable. Once I can communicate even somewhat effectively I think it will be quite a bit easier to get around and go on with daily life.

All Things Electric

Computers are supposed to be dual power.

That isn't completely true as it is somewhat dependent on the power supply in your computer. To make a long story short, my computer was not working with the local 240 volt power so I needed to find a 240 volt power supply. This would have been fairly easy in the states. I'd hop in my car and drive about 15 minutes to my local computer superstore. Then I'd spend about 10 minutes in the store and drive home.

In the words of a good friend "Well, In Europe it is quite different." I had been told of a store called MediaMarkt that apparently had what I needed. I knew vaguely where it was but really had no idea exactly where it was at. I thought it was close to the Spreitenbach shopping center so I got on the bus to the shopping center.

I had never been to the shopping center but when I arrived I was pretty sure I was nowhere near where I needed to be. I decided to suck it up and practice my German. I walked up to a bus and asked the driver how to get to MediaMarkt. He replied with a couple of numbers. He even wrote them on a piece of paper for me. I got off the bus and then I realised I had no idea what he had told me. Then after about 2 minutes the driver must have known I was clueless because he got off the bus and showed me where to stand. Then I understood, He had written down the bus numbers for me. I asked him again what I was supposed to do,then I repeated his answer making sure that he had told me to change buses at the train station. This second time I did understand. About an hour and a half after I started I made it to MediaMarkt. The sad part is it is only about 5 miles from my apartment.

I found what I was looking for only to realize I didnt' have enough cash to get the 3 things I needed. I ended up only buying two of the items so now I have a working computer with no sound. The store was a zoo. I couldn't believe the lack of parking. It looked like a suburban mall on the day after Thanksgiving. Where these people all that desparate for the latest digital camera, or was this just the only store of its kind within miles?

The way home was a little better as I realized that I could take the first bus back to the train station and then instead of taking 2 more buses, I would take the train straight to Baden. This was actually the better option as the single bus ticket and the single train ticket were cheaper than the 3 bus tickets.

During the entire 3 hour trip I was extremely stressed, I felt like I was going to a college entrance exam the entire time. I couldn't believe how relieved I felt to return home. I was supposed to go out that evening but I was just so mentally exhausted that I just couldn't bear the thought of getting on yet another train. Instead, I stayed home.

Let the Weekend Arrive

I slept in my own bed for the first time in about 6 weeks last night. it was really a wonderful experience. I was so tired though that I really didn't sleep that well. How wonderful it felt though to climb into that nice soft familiar mattress.

Now that our apartment has furniture it has turned into a mess. There are things strewn everywhere. It is like a war zone. I realize its only the second day since we've gotten our stuff but I really just want everything to be in order.

What I really need is a weekend. This week, actually the several weeks I have been here have been quite long. I don't feel like I've really had a chance to settle into a routine yet. I've been going non-stop with no rest in sight.

I did make it over to the Manor department store and the Coop City store to try to find some cheap plugs to convert some of our lamps. I was successful in that I found some plugs that you can pretty easily attach to a severed lamp chord. I've successfully converted the plugs on 3 lamps so far. Just enough to have one in every room. I figure I'll do a couple of more over the weekend.

Baden Airlift

Today I could hear the planes. The thundering roar of the turbo prop engines. At first louder, and louder. Then they slowly slipped away leaving a trail of floating packages slowly drifting towards the earth. Small packages. Light packages. Packages to sustain life.

Within the package from the heavens were the essentials. After unwrapping the brightly colored wrapping for easy visibility a treasure was found.

3 Boxes of Kraft macaroni and cheese, 6 bars of Ivory soap, and 3 tubes of chapstick medicated lip balm.

There truely is a God. Or, more apropriately, a colleague from the Richmond office who called a few days before she came to Baden and so nicely asked if there was anything she could bring.

Die erste Strasse rechts

Once I knew I was coming to Switzerland I immediately became interested in learning German. In the US I found a series of websites, books, and CDs to assist in my studies.

Since I have arrived in Switzerland I have diligently spent about 3 nights a week working through a teach yourself German book. The book came with a CD that included listening comprehension exercises. For weeks I've been learning how to order coffee with sugar and no milk. I've also become quite proficient at asking for a single bed, with a shower at the hotel. But I find that these first 10 lessons have been quite useless in my day-to-day life. Even though I I would guess i have a vocabular of 150 - 200 words and phrases I'm still a long way off for being able to communicate.

The Swiss-German dialect that is spoken in Switzerland is very different from the high german you learn in books or language classes. This makes it very difficult for a foriegner who speaks german to understand the locals.

But last night I had my first personal victory. Just two nights ago I was heads down in my German book learning how to give directions. 'turn left at the second street, then turn right at the first' I was repeating to the cadence of the man on the CD. I even made a joke last night over dinner to some friends that I could get anywhere in Switzerland if I was given directions in German that consisted of only left and right turns at the first or second street.

Then it happened, I was walking through town and a group of young people was approaching. I saw one of the young women start walking directly toward me. I prepared my standard panic line 'Ich Versteha nicht, sprechen Sie Anglisch', (I don't understand you, do you speak English?). My vocal chords were locked and loaded ready to spring into action with this pathetic retreat.

Then she began to speak 'Entchuldigung, Wo ist die beirgarten?' I was amazed, for the first time in Switzerland I actually understood what was being said to me. Secondly I hadn't paniced yet. This was my one chance, I had just studied the directions unit, I knew where the beer garten was, and best of all I could give all the directions via turns either at the first or second street.

I gathered the courage, started thinking really hard and replied in my horrible German.....

"Die erste strasse rechts, dann die esrste strasse links, dann geradeaus auf der linken Seite"

I waited for her response. It seemed like forever. Did she understand. Then it came.

"Danke"

Victory! my first complete interaction with a swiss person entirely in German. I was thrilled, I felt like a million dollars. I even had to call my wife and tell her of my massive accomplishment.

Just this week we scheduled our personal German instruction. We are set to begin classes in a week. Hopefully with a little professional help I'll win even more battles.

The Floor

During our apartment handover we had made a note in the damage report that there were a few places on the floor where a few boards looked like they were a little loose. The three spots just happend to coincide with the exact spots where the previous rente had a few large potted plants. I would be willing to guess that he had over watered the plants occasionaly and some water probably spiled on the floor and began to slowly warp the floors.

We had noted the damage not because we necessarily wanted it repaired but more because we didn't want to be charged for the damage when we move out. To my surprise we were told that the rental office would have someone out quickly to repair the damage.

Sure enough despite some communications issues a few workers showed up and tore up our floor. I was expecting a few boards to be replaced but these guys really did a number on the living room. The tore it up on a Wednesday and promised they would come back on Thursday.

Thursday comes and no workers. My wife gets a call that they will come Friday.

Friday comes, and on my way home from work for lunch I spot the truck outside the apartment. I know my wife isn't home so in my broken german/english/spanish I managed to learn that the guys don't need to get into the apartment right now. They are waiting for the materital to be delivered at 2:00 pm.

Well the flooring never came, and now our furniture is supposed to be here in two business days. I just hope they get this fixed fast because it will be a nightmare if they have to come back after our furniture arrives next Wednesday.

The Internet In a Box

I recieved a note from the post on Friday that they had tried to deliever a package. Unfortunately we were not here to sign for it so they left us a note to go to the post office to pick up the package.

Upon getting to the post office I proceeded to take a ticket and wait. When my number was called I proceeded to the window and presented the note along with my passport. The woman took my note and disappeared into the back. What could it be? Cookies from home? Maybe a box of Mac and Cheese?

Even better. It was the Internet! And it came in a single box. The woman emerged from the back carring a small package with a cablecom logo and I immediately knew that our cable modem had arrived.

Know that I've got the net at home I feel much better. Ahhhhhh a sigh of releif. I'm so grateful to be connected!

This means we can now look up receipies for cooking, do online translations, watch richmond television, get some news in a language other than French, German or Italian. And maybe best of all I can start to communicate with friends and family on a more regular basis.

Sugar With Your Coffee

I have a friend that likes gum. he chews gum two pieces at at time. If we every go for lunch without a doubt like clock work about five minutes after sitting down he will ask for Sugar. This is well before the sweet tea arrives mind you. In fact he has found that the Sugar or more accurately, Sweet n Low packets, are the perfect way to dispose of your gum before a meal. Simply wrap your gum wad in the packet and you're ready to eat.

So for weeks I've been wondering if everything is so small in Europe why aren't the sugar packets smaller? They are the same size as the ones in the US. This leads to a problem. You go to the coffee machine to get your 4 ounce coffee, you open a sugar packet and think 'do I really need all this sugar in here?'

I have come to the conclusion that about half a packet is sufficient.

You aren't supposed to go back to your desk with your coffee. It is prefered that you drink your coffee standing by the coffee machine. This leads to pleanty of time to stare at the walls and admire the dust bunnies. So after about the third day of watching the migration of the hairballs in the corner I realized that the basket with the sugar packets had a bunch of half opened packets in it. Why would someone put a half used sugar packet back in the basket? Did someone drop it in there? Was this a bad joke? Maybe they are left over from a bad april fools joke, filled with salt.

No. The real answer is the Swiss can't imagine wasting anyting that would the thrown away. For that reason if you only use half a sugar. PUT IT BACK! You never would want to waste that half teaspoon of sugar. That would be an ecologically disaster!

I imagine my friend would end up in jail here. The charge: ecoterrorism. The evidence: Sweet 'n Low and Dentyne Ice

Smores

We have found a new love. Wernli cookies. They make these wonderful little grahm cracker cookies that remind me of smores.

They are essentially a small grahm cracker with a nice piece of chocolate on top. For the 30 second generation like my self these are perfect for camping. Bring the box of cookies, and back of marshmallows and in less than 30 seconds you have create the perfect smore with out the chocolate fingertips.

We have been going through about a box a day.

Yes, my name is swissmerica and I have a problem.

The Air Matress

So we've been in our 'new' apartment for a little over a week now. It is in a great location. After really spending some time there I think we have made the right decision.

My only grip is the air matress. As you know we are still waiting on getting our belongings from the US. It has been a little over a month now and I think it will still be about 2 more weeks before our things get through customs.

So for better or worse we've been sleeping on an air matress for the past week. This wouldn't be too bad except for the fact that last light I think the matress saw its last day. I woke up at abotu 3:00 am sleeping on the floor. I got up and re-inflated the matress only to be awoken again at about 6:00 am by the feeling of a hard wooden floor in my side.

I can't wait until my things arrive. What a wonderful day that will be.