Happy Halloween

Snicker's Update

I wanted to send out a thank you to everyone that took an opportunity to vote for my friend and his crazy Snickers jingle. It ends up that he is in the final three and will perform his song live on November 8th. For more details visit the following website: http://snickerssatisfies.com/

hi everyone, I just want to thank you for voting on that Snickers contest. You did it, we won! We're in the final 3. So now on Nov. 8, us and the 2 other finalists perform in front of Nick Lechay at the House of Blues and he decides the grand prize winner. So thanks everyone again, I'll let you know what happens.

-L

Gurken Und Zwiebeln

Today we fired up the ole raclette grill from the second had store. We were consuming cheese like like a poor lactose intollerant sole that had just discovered LactAid. Piles of melted cheese, boiled potatoes, pickled cucumbers, and pickled onions. Yes it sounds horrid, and it stinks like mad, but it tastes so good.

That reminds me of a conversation I had with a guy at work. We were talking about the recent 'Ennetbaden Tunnel Fest'. This was a festival to celebrate the opening of a new 640 meter tunnel in Ennetbaden. I had just met this guy in a class and he told me he was from Ennetbaden. The previous weekend I was at the tunnel fest, and I was fairly sure he must have been famliar with the event so to make small talk I asked him how it was. His response was amusing.

"It was a disaster, I can't believe we went."

I have never heard many people declare a public festival a disaster so I probed for more detail.

He provided the following points to support his claim:

• The entire place stunk of burning cheese (Raclette)
• There was a really lame aerobics show
• Whose idea was it that a marching band would sound good in a concrete tunnel?

So on most points I really can't argue. However, the errie sound of echoing apline horns in man made underground crevase was kind of cool. Okay, in all honesty looking back on it, it was kind of lame.

Hair Cut

I went to get a hair cut for the second time today. I decided to try to find a new place because the last place I went was very expensive. It turns out that on the way out of my apartment I ran into our neighbor and told her I was going to get a Haarshniett. She immediately recommneded a place not far from our apartment.

I decided to take her advice. I walked by the place and they had a sign with the costs in the window. The prices were still expensive but they were cheaper than the other place so I decided to walk in.

The place was completely empty except for one very swiss looking woman in the back. She got up when I entered and I asked her.

'Haben Sie Ziet ein Haarschniett?'

She responded in the affirmative and I was on my way. She sat me down and I immediately told her that...

Mien Duetsch is nicht so gut.

She asked me a few simple questions about what services I wanted and along we went. I realized during the entire experience that salons and babershops are actually a good place to practice your language skills (if you are comfortable with the fact that you hair cut might not turn out the way you wanted it too).

We spoke in simple sentences, small talk. She asked if I lived in Baden. I replied.

Ja, in diese Gebaude am vier Stock

I then said to her that there didn't seem to be many people in the store today. She told me that there were many people in the morning. I suggested that maybe it was slow because of lunch and she agreed.

I know my German is still terrible but this small talk just gave me a little more confidence in the fact that I can communicate, and I can be understood. More importantly I feel like I am really making some progress with my language skills.

Pathetic Plea For Help!

Ok, this is pathetic, but I can't not help a friend out. A good friend of mine who moved to LA is trying to win a songwriting contest. The contest is on youtube. If you have a youtube account please login and vote for my friend (5 stars would be great)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQBfti15s4o

Here is the video, Look, there's my friend playing the guitar! I can't believe I used to play in a garage band with this guy in 8th grade. What fun that used to be.

Unihockey

I was looking on youtube to try to see if I could find an example of some 'professional' unihockey. There were quite a few clips available. I thought the following was a good example of what the sport looks like for those of you that are interested.



And, yes it is played with a 'wiffleball.' The ball is slightly heavier than an American wiffleball but for practical purposes it is the same thing.

Searching For Treasures

Today we spent all day searching for treasures. It was such a long day, I had a lot of fun, but I am definately ready to call it a night.

Our search started this morning when we left the apartment about 9:30 in search of pumpkins for our pumpkin carving party tomorrow. We thought it would be easy to find a few pumpkins at the Saturday morning market. We walked up and down the length of the market and spotted only one pumpkin and although it looked nice it would have been horrible for carving.

Next we made our way to 3 different grocery stores with no luck. We were completely empty handed. Next I called my friend that will be coming over for our pumpkin carving party and asked him if he had gone out to find a pumpkin yet. "I'm going to the market now," he said. I warned him not to waste his time. We talked for a few minutes and he decided he would try to drive through the countryside and see if he could find a roadside stand somewhere.

We did manage to find two very small pumpkins on the way home from the grocery store. The pumpkins were burried in a pile of gourds. The are just barely big enough to carve. Hopefully my friend and his wife will show up with something more suitable tomorrow.

This afternoon we took our bikes to the sports outlet so I could get a unihockey stick for next week. After a few minutes in the sports store and a quick tour of the mall we started to ride home and found another brockenstube. This one was called Onkel Tom's Brocken Hütte. This second hand shop was really neat. Everything was neatly organized in the traditional Swiss way. The place was huge compared to swiss standards. Probably about the size of a Wallgreens or CVS drugstore back home. They even had shopping carts!

After wandering around for about 20 minutes I found the Raclette grill graveyard. We had our choice of used Raclette grills for about a 10th of the cost of a new one. We didn't feel like dragging a heavy applicance this time since we didn't have our full set of panniers (saddle bags) on our bikes but next time will be prepared.

We ended up raiding the store of all the local souviners that were probably worthless to teh local population. We got two picture books of Baden (one even had some enlgish it in). My wife also found a couple of souviner plates. One of them depicts the clock tower right across the street from our apartment. We couldn't pass it up since it was only a Franc or two.

We have been going non-stop since early morning. I am ready to lay down and go to sleep. I just need to keep my eyes open for the last 10 minutes of the Illini football game. They are playing Penn State and and I really want to listen to the end of the game.

Macht Spass

I have decided that Floorball will be my new past time. I had such a great time yesterday I can't wait until I can play again. The game is incredible fast paced. It is continual sprinting from one end of the court to the other.

Wow.

So, where do I start. I was given directions to sign up on a weekly basis if I wanted to play. So on Tuesday I went to the website to put my name in the list for particiaption for the Wednesday lunch game. The website was all in German. Unfortunately most of it I can't read. I found a page that had a selction list where you could select your name and then there were two buttons Ja und nein (yes and no) I figured I would select ja.

Little did I know that by slecting ja I was actually saying that I had a car at work and that I would be willing to drive people to the sports hall. But I don't have a car. Problem number 1. In the end it wasn't so bad I guess because there is a bus that goes directly to the sports hall so some of us just jumped on the bus.

There was another guy who was also playing for the first time. He was a former field hockey player. I of course was coming from an ice hockey background. Once we started to play it was fairly easy for both of us to slip into a game strategy and pass the ball effectively. The movement on the court was very similar to ice hockey. There was a constant back and forth, up and down the court.

At one point I was sprinting a long the wall and I must have ran my arm along the length of the wall for a few feet because When I got home I found I had some nasty floor burn on my arm. Ah, but what's a little soreness when you've found an outlet to escape from the daily stresses of life abroad for a few mintues.

Because we took the bus (and missed the first bus) we only got to play for 30 minutes of our allotted hour slot. I was completely tired and ready for bed after 30 minutes of running around like a grade school kid on the playground. I can't even imagine how I would have felt if I had played for a full hour.

I will definately be playing this game again. And I might even buy a stick! Maybe not an expensive one, but a nice starter stick is definately in order.

Candy Korn

Today I got home to a surprise. A large envelope had arrived postmarked from The States. What could it be? I didn't ask for anything, at least not that I remember. What treasures lay inside?

Oh if you could only have seen the smile on my face when I saw the package of candy corn. What a ridiculous thing, candy corn, but it tastes so good. For a few savory moments I felt like a kid back in the US enjoying the fruits of my trick-or-treat labors. I can remember taking candy corn as a kid and making 'dracula fangs' with the kernals.

I should not detract from some of the other items included in the care package. There were various decorations and such that we have already begun to display to show our spirit for the upcoming Halloween and Thanksgiving seasons. Halloween gets some notice here with various bar and club parties but I doubt that Thanksgiving will even get as much as a mention.

Actually these decorations couldn't have come at a better time as we had just planned a pumpkin carving party with some fellow American friends this Sunday. I'm already looking forward to it.

Oh, and by the way, thanks for the package. I know you are reading ;)

Unihockey

Tomorrow I am supposed to play unihockey. Unihockey is played in several countries including Switzerland, Norway, and Canada. It is also known under several names including floorball and inebandy.

I actually have a friend currently living in Norway that plays in a league and it inspired me to try the game. I went shopping for a stick last weekend but they are very expensive. They range in price from about 60 CHF to 200 CHF. In speaking with some of the guys that play regularly they said they would let me borrow a stick the first few times to see if I like it, then I could go buy a stick if decide to continue playing.

What I really like about the sport it is reminds me of the floorhockey I used to play as a kid. It is essentially the same sport except the sticks are a little different, more like big plastic golf clubs. And, the players are adults instead of kids.

I can imagine that it will be quite fun. I just hope that it lives up to my expectation.

Oh, and one more note. My friend in Norway said that people in Sweden tend to 'Go Pro' and move to Switzerland to join the 'big leagues'. Well starting tomorrow, I'll be in the big leagues!

Left Handed Zipper

For 28 years of my life I have had right handed zippers on my pants. Then I bought a pair of pants in Europe.

I didn't even notice it until I got home. What is with this? Shouldn't there be a standard? You wouldn't think a 'left handed' zipper on a pair of pants wouldn't make much of a difference but I beg to differ. It is akin to standing at the front door of your house, grocery bag in your left hand and reaching into our left pocket with your right hand to get your keys. Yes, you can do it, but its a little weird.

I have not spent considerable time looking into how widespread the left handed zipper is on mens clothing in Europe but if it proves to be my only option I may just wait to buy my next pair of pants in The States. Evern worse, what if the left handed zipper makes it to the US with the legwarmers? This could be a terrible year for fashion.

Solothurn

Today we took a train trip to Solothurn for the day. The trip itself was uneventful but the destination was nice.

Solothurn has a beautiful church at its center and is surrounded by city walls that were built in 1548. The architecture is much like others from this period of time but I found that the town center was larger than most.

We walked around the old town for about an hour and a half and then stopped for lunch. We used some of our new german phrases from this weeks class to get the waitresses attention and tell her that we would like to order.

I had a comment on my last post about the 'legwarmers' so luckily this time I had my camera ready and managed to grab a shot. Click here to see a few photos from the day
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Marcconi, that was the treat of the day. Roasted Chestnuts to everyone back home. Now that the weather is turning and the fall leaves are out it seems like every town square has a Marcconi stand. Prices are about 4.50 CHF for 150 grams (About two handfuls).

Signs

This week they came. We had sent in a form when we moved into the apartment. I really didn't know what to expect. But now, they are here.

The Swiss love to label everything. There is a sign on everything. I can't really explain it. I guess you just have to experience it to understand. Lets put it this way. Just about every light switch in my office is labeled.

During our dinner with our neighbor on Wednesday she explained how distressed she was by the fact that our name plates for our doorbell had not arrived. I was a little amused by the comment because I didn't understand why this would be so importan to hert. In the next breath she told us that she would call and make sure it was arranged.

Sure enough by the end of the week I had arrived home to find our names all over the place on these little neatly engraved aluminum plaques. There is one on our mailbox, one by the external doorbell, one in the elevator, and one next to our apartment door. The only one they forgot was the huge backlit sign that sits right outside our front door. The Letters are about 3 inches tall so I'm almost glad they didn't correct that one because I don't necessarily need to tell the world where I live.

Hem Length

I have a proposition to make. A new mathematical law. A new Constant. I am proposing H, the constant representing the average annual hem length of garments worn on the lower half of ones body.

I would like to present the hypothosis that despite different fashions trends in Europe and the US if one was to take a statistical sample of hem lengths over the course of the calendar year the resulting averages from Europe and the US would in fact be the same.

From the window displays here it seems that Capri's and sweaters with heavy winter jackets are definately in this year in Europe. Also given the strange fact that flashdance era leg warms seem to compliment denim capris well according to the Europeans I would gather that Capri's are likely worn well into the winter months.

Compare this to American fashions where womens shorts seem to get shorter and shorter every year. Americans go from one extreme to the other, shorts to long pants, quite dramatically. I don't recall a prolonged period of "capriness" if you will.

Europeans however, seem to languish the days of Capris long past the last beach volleyball tournament. They seem to have no concept of the fact that Summer ends with Labor Day.

But, I would guess if one took an average of the annual hem length it would prove to be a constant. This sounds like a PhD thesis paper to me.

H = 26.8 inches

Aarau

Today we took a trip to Aarau, the capital of our Kanton to see the old town. It was a beautiful day to enjoy the fall weather. During the 33 minute train ride I noticed that the leaves are just begining to change. The first hints of brown and yellow are making themselves present on the very tops of the trees.

Once we got to Aarau we looked for he familiar wanderweg signs and followed the directions to the old town. The old town was quite a bit larger than Baden. The streets seemed to wind and turn and offered endless possibilities for exploration. We had a wonderful time taking in the sights and sounds. Although no stores were open, there were a few side walk cafes open. One place in particular made me laugh Hung Fat Fast Food. What a great name.

By far the strangest thing we saw as a pair of knitted bikes. I can't really explain these bikes other than to say that somebody and spent what I would believe to be an enormous amount time knitting covers for their bikes.

After about 2 hours walking around we strolled back to the train station passing a McDonalds on the way. I can't believe how much the smell of greasy fries elicites found memories of the States. Truly bizarre.

We got back on the train and spent most of the 30 minute ride dozing off. It was nice to be back in Baden, for a restful evening before the start of what I am sure will be a very hectic week.

Practice

Practice makes perfect. Our German teacher is impressed with our progress for far. We are actually going to start chapter six in our books next week. This is the last and final chapter in the first book. I would guess in about 2 weeks we'll be moving on to book two.

I am please with our progress, but not surprised. I am spending quite a bit of time trying to study in the evenings and I'm always looking for some new way to learn. Recently I came across a software 'flashcard' program that I downloaded to try it out. I liked it so much that I bought it.

The program comes with pre-made vocabulary lists or you can make your own. It gives you a series of exercises, like german-to-english matching, english-to-german matching. listen and match, and spelling/typing exercises. For $20 I thought it would be worth a try.

I seem to find that I learn best if I keep changing and alternating the way I learn. If I don't constantly change the way I study I get very bored. Hopefully this will keep me motivated for a couple of weeks.

Where Are You?

A friend of mine showed me a new tool for monitoring traffic to your website. It lets me see where the people that are viewing my blog are from. It is quite interesting to look at some of the statistics and maps. The picture above is from one of the reports showing me where my visitoris are located.

Nachbarin

We had dinner with our Nachbarin (Neighbor) this evening. She is a single woman in her mid to late 60's. She is very nice and apparently she loves to entertain.

She had us over for Raclette which my wife and I have grown to love. Who wouldn't love a plate full a melted cheese served with patatoes and pickles. Mmmmmmm.

It was an evening of small talk in broken foreign languages but we had a good time. We spoke about some of the yearly events in the city and learned more about the upcoming holiday season. Apparently there is a big christmas tree that is put up in the plaza below our appartment in December. That should be quite a sight.

We have invited her to our appartment for dinner next Wednesday evening to return the favor. I am actually looking forward to it as it is a really good opportunity for us to practice our German. It is also a great way to get a small glimpse into the thoughts and opinions of the Swiss culture.

I'm not Alone

Permits. I have written about these before, and it has happened again. So I must write.

I had a new employee start this week. As he is from France there was some confusion about if we had the proper working permits in place so to be sure I called our HR department. Yes, infact everything was correct, however my new team member would have to visit the local City office and apply for the permit with his 'Authorization for Permit' certificate when he arrived.

So Monday comes and so does my new team member. He happily goes to the City office to be told that he can not apply unless he has an original copy of the form. He had taken a photo copy.

So back in the office, I call HR and they tell me they have it and I walk over with my team member to get the original. Off he goes again to the City office.

About 20 minutes later I get an e-mail from HR that my team member doesn't actually need to apply for the permit. Since he is working in France, the paper and visa that he already had in place are sufficient for working in Switzerland.

About this same time my new team member returns, and says, they told me I don't need anything else. Dazed and confused as he was, I told him that HR and just written me an e-mail to tell me the same thing.

Welcome to Switzerland, where the paperwork can strangle you.

Did I mention my other employee had his ID badge confiscated? Aparently our paperwork was outdated. Never mind someone should be able to get to their desk to do some work. We need paperwork!