A Sunday hike with friends.

On Sunday I went for this hike with friends from work: Rachel, who is also from Minnesota, and Paul, his wife Jessica, and their sweet baby, Jacob (aka. Jake or Jake-y). This was definitely one of those instances where a mediocre hike was made unusually pleasant and enjoyable because of the company. I was a little disappointed in the hike. (Well, as disappointed as one can be with a hike in the mountains.) This was mostly because we followed the road quite a bit and the views were never very expansive. However, the day was beautiful, and I, of course, loved the company!

Jake is probably my favorite little man on the planet, and he was a super happy hiker. (Although, to be fair, he's basically just super happy all of the time. At least all of the time that I have seen him.) He sat in his hiking backpack and observed everything, when he wasn't totally passed out.

We hiked along a river for most of the time, stopping for a picnic in the woods along the way. We also passed through a placed called Anger, which amused us. It matches the place we saw while on our group retreat last year that was labeled "Place of Rage."

Our hike ended in a small village call Oey, which is quite fun to say. We had an entertaining train ride back to Zürich, with Jake amusing us and quite a few other people, including some old men whose hair he pulled and whose socks he charmed right off.

Swiss people and their rules.

As I have settled in to life in Switzerland, one thing that I have noticed is that Swiss people really like their rules. There are rules about when you can recycle, when you can do your laundry, when you can vacuum your flat, when you can talk on the trams, what colors you are allowed to wear, when you are allowed to wear certain colors, how your recycling must be bundled, when you have to register, what bags you use for your trash, when you are allowed to have a bank account, how you buy your produce, etc.

Most of these are unwritten rules, learned by dirty looks or scoldings or round-about comments. For example, a friend had her laundry turned off by a neighbor because she was washing on Sunday. Or other friends have been scolded by passers-by for recycling on Sunday. Or I have had someone say, "You're wearing white? We don't wear white in the winter."

While this took some getting used to, there is some comfort for me to live in such an orderly society. Although, I do have to admit that I pick and choose the rules that I want to follow. I definitely refuse to adhere to the no-color-wearing code that seems to exist here.

I recently had an experience, however, when I came up against Swiss rules and did not really find them anything except exasperating.

I am in charge of safety for my lab at ETH. Having recently assumed this responsibility, I did a walk-through of the lab and discovered a safety concern: the lab where we do essentially all of our potentially dangerous chemical reactions is a smaller lab with only one door. There is the possibility for a fire to start directly in front of the door, blocking the only exit. While we really don't expect anything so drastic to happen, we thought that it was better to address the possibility by installing a fire extinguisher in the lab.

I contacted the safety folks, who finally directed me to the person in charge of fire safety. He could not authorize a fire extinguisher without personally inspecting the situation, so we scheduled an inspection.

The day of the inspection arrived, and I showed him the lab and explained the problem to him. Our conversation went something like the following:

Me: ...so, there is only one exit, and we thought that it would be a good idea to have a fire extinguisher just in case a fire started in front of the exit. We don't think it would happen, but we would rather be safe than sorry!

He: Well, we have adequate and well-thought-out safety rules and policies, you know. We require that every lab is within 40 m of a fire extinguisher. In fact, this lab is closer to the fire extinguisher than the large lab next door. 

Me: Well, yes. But the other lab has at least 4 exits, and this has only one exit.

He: Well, this lab is too small to have two exits according to the building policy.

Me: Ummm... yes. But it still has only one exit.

He: Well, you know, policies exist for a reason. If we grant one exception, soon everyone will want one. Not every case is a special case.

Me: Well, we do the more dangerous chemistry in this lab. And there is only one exit. So it would seem to make sense to have the extinguisher, just in case.

He: Well, why don't you move this lab into the large lab with exits.

Me: The infrastructure for this sort of chemistry was built into this room and can't be moved. Also, we have only a small group doing synthetic chemistry, while the majority do less-dangerous work. So we need the larger lab for the other work. We think that installing a fire extinguisher would be the easiest solution.

He: Well, you know people have to stop by every year to check the extinguisher, and that is a lot of work. We really can't just install them everywhere. 

Me: I realize this. I don't want them everywhere! I just want one in here. Just a little one. Just in case the worst should happen. I don't think that my colleagues should have to jump out of the 3rd-story window in case of emergency.

::We talk in circles for the next 10 minutes, he defending the policies and me hitting my talking points: one exit. fire potential. need a fire extinguisher.::

He: Well, I can maybe understand the situation. I think that we can possibly make an exception and have a small fire extinguisher installed in here. But I would like to look around the lab to make sure you're following the other rules.

::Looking around the lab.::

He: Why do you have this dangerous chemical in the hood by the door? You only have one exit, so you really shouldn't put such a dangerous thing in front of the only exit.

Me:... I realize we just have one exit. I've spent the past half-hour explaining to you that we only have one exit! But we only have three hoods, and the other ones have other dangerous things in them. 

(At this point, I just stop arguing. I have gained their concession that a fire extinguisher will be installed. Now he scours the lab and finds several other potential safety problems.)

He: Well, you will need to change these things by the end of the month. And the fire extinguisher people have already done their mandatory check of this building for this year, so we are not sure when they will be back to install your extinguisher. But it will probably be done by the end of the year.

Me: Thanks. I think.

He: Do you want me to go through the other labs to make sure you're doing things correctly?

Me: Ummm. No, I think we've got everything under control. 

He: Okay. Well, I'll email you my report!

Me: Thanks.

I have to admit that this was one of the most frustrating encounters I have had. All I really wanted was to safeguard my colleagues' lives by the small addition of a fire extinguisher. And this guy seemed so much more in to policy than people's lives. I think our conversation lasted over half an hour before he finally agreed- we just went round and round. And then, once he had made the concession, it really seemed like a little bit of revenge that he went through the lab with a fine-tooth comb to find things that we were doing wrong and that will require some doing to address.

Well, at any rate, I carried my point and we will someday get a fire extinguisher.

Have you heard of the Anti PowerPoint Party?

The Anti PowerPoint party is a new party on the Swiss political scene. Now that's a party I can get behind!

Here's another really interesting article on the way political parties work in Switzerland. And, just in case you were wondering, we do have a Pirate party here as well!

To be honest, I do have an appreciation for this system with a plethora of parties- it seems to reduce the extreme polarization of a two-party system. Although it does get a little ridiculous at times. 

Apparently, Pirates are in European politics these days.

I saw this article on the New York Times and thought that someone had to be making it up. But, apparently it's true. Berliners just elected Pirates- 15 of them- to their legislature! European politics are... interesting.

Yes, Swiss people are just tidy.

A friend shared this story with me, and I thought I'd share the amazing-ness that is one Swiss man's obsession with neatness and order with you.

Reflections on a year.

When I arrived back in Zürich, one of the first things that I did was to go to the grocery store. I noticed a sign announcing that the store would be closed on Monday (today). My first thought was, "I wonder what random Swiss holiday is on Monday?" Then I realized that it is Knabenschiessen, which is the first strange Swiss holiday that I experienced when I arrived last fall. And I came to the strange realization that I have now lived in Switzerland for the better part of a year (10 of the last 12 months) and have more or less experienced all of the bizarre holidays that Zürich, Switzerland has to offer. Little boys shooting and exploding snowmen- been there, done that!

This realization was actually a little sobering, since I have really enjoyed discovering this interesting and (occasionally) totally strange culture in which I am now living. I immediately panicked a little and wondered, "Will I lose my sense of discovery and excitement of living in Switzerland now that there are no more first Bööggs in my future?" I quickly recovered from my brief panic and concluded that this doesn't mean that discovery is over. There is still more to experience with each holiday, and then are are other holidays in other regions of Switzerland. Thankfully, the world of Switzerland still holds interesting things for me to discover.

But, seriously, it is pretty incredible to think that it was only a year ago that I was arriving in Zürich, thinking that I'd just be here for 3 months. Now I'm planning to live here for the forseeable future, I've got a great flat and am making a home here, and I'm making progress in speaking and understanding German (although my time in the US has set me back a little- I lost the impulse to respond to people in German; I understand what people are asking me in German, but I just respond in English...). I've learned the Swiss laundry rules, the recycling system, the cleaning products, the store hours, the train system, the post office, the bank. I've learned to cook without meat and to adapt to the metric system. I've fallen in love with hiking and the Alps, and I've been happier than anyone should be at my job. I've met tons of lovely people and have made new friends.

This is not to say that there aren't hard things with living in a strange place. It can be really incredibly lonely, and even little trips to the grocery store or the post office can be totally exhausting (although that part is getting better as I learn German a little more). Finding a church has been really difficult. Making friends takes time, and no one can replace the friends and family back home.

But I have been so thankful for this experience and adventure that came my way. I certainly never expected to live anywhere but Minnesota, but I am so happy to be here now!

Oeschinensee, the bluest lake ever.

On Saturday I took a hike with Britt, my co-worker, and two of her friends from ETH. I thought that the best way to fight jet lag would be to get up early on a Saturday and take a long hike in the sun to convince my body to adjust to the new time zone. And, knock on wood, I think it worked! Although I've been a little fuzzier than normal in the mornings, I've had only super mild jet lag this time around and have been sleeping through the night!

Britt had chosen this hike, which is one that I have had on my list of hikes to go on all summer. The weather was amazing, and I was really happy to be back in the mountains. I heart mountains!

We arrived in Kandersteg around mid-morning and had one of those we-are-definitely-in-Switzerland moments when we observed a woman vacuuming a town information sign that was made out of wood in the shape of a log cabin. Apparently it is very important to get rid of the dust between the logs.

We decided to make the hike longer by forgoing the chair lift and hiking up from Kandersteg. The hike was absolutely beautiful.

We stopped for lunch by the lake and were serenaded by an Alphorn being played on the beach. We also saw a little Alpabfahrt, in which the cows are taken from their high mountain pasture to a lower pasture for the winter.

From there we climbed up to a ridge above the Oeschinensee. I took a video on the way up, and you can (faintly) hear the Alphorn, echoing up from the lake.

From above the lake you can really see how blue it really is. I don't think I've ever see such a blue lake- it was incredible.

 

We hiked for a while along a ridge above the lake, before starting our descent back towards the lake.

You can see the trail we took up the mountain.

This was definitely a super-mondo-incredibly beautiful hike! But, then, what hike here isn't?

We ended up stopping for an ice cream and panache on the way back to the train station in Kandersteg. By the time we got back on the train, it was late enough that we decided to stop in Bern (halfway back to Zürich) for dinner at the Altes Tramdepot, where we had been back in July.  Sadly, the amazing beer we had last time was no longer available since it was a seasonal beer, but we were finally able to have the hamburger that we tried to order last time but couldn't because we were five minutes too late (since the kitchen closed for the afternoon). Bern is quite beautiful at night, and we had a table on the patio overlooking the river and the city of Bern. It was a lovely end to a fantastic day in the Alps!

Notes on my US trip.

I am back in Zürich after spending two weeks in the US, so I thought I'd post a little update.

I don't remember jet lag being so bad going to the US, but I was definitely hit hard this time around. I felt quite happy about finally being able to sleep in until 5.30 am after a week of being in the US, as I was waking up at 3.30 am for a few nights! My co-workers and I have decided that it might be a little like poker- sometimes you just get dealt a bad hand.

It was definitely different being back in the US. I was ridiculed for referring to someone as my flat-mate. It took several minutes for my fellow travelers and I to realize that the buses did not, in fact, stop running at noon, but that we just were no longer on military time. I couldn't get over how inexpensive everything is. Or the fact that I could understand everyone when I walk around. (In fact, my co-worker and I were speaking in German on the buses if we want to talk about someone around us.) Everything was so spacious and huge! And definitely more wild. And more homeless people. And more meat.

Anyways, I got to spend a day hanging out (and shopping) with my dear friend Tiffany before the conference started. The conference was a success, with good chemistry content and great times with co-workers. Of course, the time with my family was the best. I love my family and Lake Superior! All of my travel was quite smooth, and now I just feel like a total zombie. Time for round two with jet lag...