The grass is actually greener...

I had an epiphany this week about another of the many ways I had gotten spoiled in Switzerland and had adapted to living there. There have been many things that have taken quite some re-adjustment, such as forgetting how floors are counted in the US and always ending a floor above where I want to be because I think that the ground floor is not the same thing as the first floor, having trouble with understanding dates because I can't remember if it's day-month-year or month-day-year here, getting confused when calendars start on Sunday instead of Monday, etc.

The most recent example is grass. I have been looking forward to the snow melting and the start of spring here in Ann Arbor. But, for the past two weeks, I've been wondering why on earth it's just so ugly here. The snow melting didn't provide the relief that I was subconsciously expecting, which I was puzzled by.

Then I realized: when it's actually cold, like it is here in Ann Arbor, the grass DIES. So, when the snow melts, it's not automatically green again. The snow melting is not the same thing as spring.

In Switzerland, the grass is never not green. The cold and snow in Zurich just don't last long enough, so the snow melting actually improves things in a way it doesn't here. 

I feel like an idiot for forgetting that grass dies (I am from Minnesota after all!), but it just means that I'm looking even more forward to the start of spring!

Zurich around this time last year.

Four weeks!

As of last Thursday, I have only 4 more weeks in Switzerland. And, if you consider that I'll be traveling with my parents and sister for over a week of that time, I really have less than 3 weeks actually in Switzerland. And, if you consider that I have to move out of my flat relatively early in December, it turns out that I only have 5 more full days of living in my flat when I am actually in town. I have started sorting, but no real packing has been happening. I think it will get done, but it's definitely overwhelming at the moment. Cue me breathing into a paper bag.

I have totally loved my time here in Switzerland, and for a long time I was really sad to be leaving. However, I've reach the point where I am ready to go home and to move on to the next adventure (a postdoc in Michigan). I am happy that I will be closer to my family; especially this fall, the distance has just seemed to be too large. I am looking forward to starting a new life all over again and seeing what happens this time. Although I fully expect to experience reverse culture shock, there are many things that are easier and more intuitive about living in the US, simply because it's what I have known for most of my life. I won't have to struggle to understand what people are saying to me or how to respond, I'll just know which stores sell the things that I'm trying to find, and I'll be within an hour-or-so flight of my family.

I also have high hopes for bringing some of the things that I love about my life here with me. I have learned that I love hiking, and hopefully I'll be more intentional about getting out for hikes in Michigan. I love how I don't have to drive here, and I've already made the choice to find a place to live in Ann Arbor that is within walking distance of campus so that I minimize my driving time. I really appreciate how I've learned to cook more healthily and with fresher ingredients here, which is something I think I can take with me. And I love how life is an adventure here, and moving to a new place, even within the US, is always an adventure.

I am so thankful for my time in Switzerland, but I can't wait to be home for Christmas!

Swiss Thanksgiving #4!

Today Stefanie and I celebrated Thanksgiving (super early, I know, but things are busy from now until forever after this weekend). We cooked all day and made all of the essentials: chicken, gravy, mashed potatoes, green bean hotdish, sweet potato hotdish, stuffing, and pecan pie. We had a lot of fun together cooking, and the meal was excellent! I'm really glad that I've been able to celebrate Thanksgiving each year I've been here!

Revisiting that weird thing that I saw this weekend.

Thanks to my friend Sarah's inimitable Google-ing skills, today I discovered that the strange procession I saw in Andermatt last weekend is a tradition called Woldmanndli, or men of the forest. Apparently they parade around making loud noises with cowbells and taking care of the forest that protects the town from avalanches. I'm not sure if it makes it any less strange, but at least I know what I saw!

I also discovered something even more amazing: apparently this website, "Living Traditions of Switzerland", has a whole section dedicated to "Wearing of masks and tomfoolery"! How did I not discover this earlier?!? I have definitely missed out on some good Swiss tomfoolery...

The music of 100 cowbells.

One of my friends has family that works for the Swiss Embassy, and she once told me that the staff are only allowed to stay in one place for 3 years before being moved to the next location. The reason for this is that people start to "go local" after 3 years, and the Embassy doesn't want their representatives becoming too adapted to their host culture. I thought this was an interesting philosophy, and I do see the truth of this in my life.

Now that I've been living in Switzerland for over 3 years, I do feel like I've reached the point of being very comfortable here. My German, while not amazingly fluent and/or correct, is good enough for me to communicate with almost anyone, and I can hold long conversations without feeling totally drained afterwards. I've received many comments from my European colleagues that I am starting to dress more European, and, indeed, I now understand how to wear scarves and the general hue of my wardrobe is dark. I am a pro at Swiss public transportation, at finding the regions with the best weather on the weekends, at choosing really nice hikes, at packing, at showing up to parties the correct amount of fashionably late to match the country of origin of the host, at the three-kiss greeting, at what produce is in season when, at which stores carry the specialty products that I like to use, etc. I no longer think twice about carrying large amounts of cash on me and it's usually in at least 3 currencies. I know the points with the best views on many train rides, and which side of the train to sit on to see them. I now notice when the trams are running catywumpus (meaning a few minutes late, or when they send the wrong type of tram; seriously, an old tram on the 10 line- what are they thinking?), and I know when it's worth it to run for the tram and when it isn't. I am comfortable taking weekend off and using my vacation without feeling guilty. I have friendly relationships with my regular checkout people at my grocery store, and I just have a general sense of being comfortable here. I do not find life here so surprising anymore, which is fine. I have loved this experience of starting a life in a new place, and the adventure of becoming more and more comfortable in a foreign place.

However, the Swiss still can be strange and surprising. Yesterday after my hike, I had some time before my train, so I wandered into town. When I came to the main square, there were bunches of people lining the street, a line of elderly people in wheelchairs sitting in the sun, and tables of drinks. Everyone seemed like they were waiting for something, so I figured I would join in. A few minutes later, I heard this massive noise approaching from around the corner, and then was treated to this spectacle:

It was the music of 100 cowbells, which was amazingly, ear-achingly loud. Once they had paraded past, they gathered in a circle and rang the bells together for a while:

It was bizarre, I'm not going to lie. I did some Google-ing, but I was not able to figure out exactly what was going on here. My best guess is that this was somehow related to the traditional "Aplabfahrt", in which the farmers celebrate a successful summer, dress up their cows, and parade them down from the Alps to the valleys for the winter. But there were no cows in this parade, just... humans dressed as cows? Anyways, it was a reminder that I have not yet exhausted the mysteries of Switzerland!

Accordions are serious business.

I've stared at this ad on the tram almost every morning for the past month and have been trying to wrap my head around an accordion concert that would be so intense that it would merit this sort of ad and would attract enough people to fill a stadium.

I still don't get it. But apparently accordions are serious business over here!

Hiking in Brauwald with Kirsten and Co.

Early in September, Kirsten (a friend from high school), her husband Ross, and their mothers (Iris and Loraine) came to Switzerland. They first traveled around for about a week, and then spent a day or two in Switzerland before I joined them for the last week of their trip. They got really lucky, and the weather was perfect the day that they had in Switzerland, so we went hiking in one of my all-time favorite locations: Braunwald.

It's possible that this is the place that started it all: three years ago (almost exactly to the date, in fact!), on Friday, September 3, 2010, during my first week in Switzerland, my boss Kris had me skip work on a perfectly sunny Friday to go for a hike in Braunwald. I had been gradually falling in love with Switzerland, but this sealed the deal. I'm pretty sure that was the day that I decided to move to Switzerland!

Anyways, on Friday, September 6, 2013 we went hiking in Brauwald on an (almost) perfectly sunny day.

We started out in the valley and took a sihlbahn up the mountain to Braunwald. From there, we took a gondola up as far as we could, so that we were surrounded by the mountains. I love getting so high up that you feel like you are in a fishbowl of mountains.

From there, we enjoyed the views and watched some paragliders swoop around above us before heading down the mountain.

The first part of the walk way relatively flat, right under the eaves of the mountain above us. Then we headed down through a rock field that had some really cool rock formations.

Because of time, we had decided to hike halfway down the mountain and then take the gondola the rest of the way down. But when we got to the gondola, it was broken! Eventually, a gator-type vehicle arrived, and Kirsten and Ross and I climbed into the pickup bed part of the vehicle (letting the older people have the real seats, since we're just such nice young people) and were whisked down the mountain to meet Iris and Loraine, who hadn't done the walk with us. It was quite a ride, made more amusing by a random old guy who had served us a drink earlier in the day who chattered away at us in Swiss German almost the whole ride. Not only can I not really understand Swiss German so well, but my comprehension is definitely not so good over the roar of a gator rushing down the mountain. There was a lot of smiling and nodding that happened.

We stayed in Braunwald and had beautiful dinner outside, overlooking the mountains as the sun started to set. I just love Switzerland!

Schwingfest is something that is really Swiss.

When picking out my hike this weekend, I knew that I wanted to avoid the region around Burgdorf in Kanton Bern, because the once-every-three-years Schwingfest is being held there. The Schwingfest involves three major traditional Swiss sports: Schwingen, stone throwing, and Hornussen. Over 250,000 people were expected to attend this event, and hundreds of special trains were scheduled to accommodate all of these visitors! Given that I highly dislike crowds, I decided to stay away, but I found the proceedings so interesting that I wanted to share them with you.

Schwingen is traditional Swiss wrestling that I think looks sort of like sumo wrestling, but with clothes on and burlap underwear on the outside. Here's a video from the 2010 Schwingfest, courtesy of Swissinfo:



Stone throwing is just that: throwing big heavy stones. In the above video, there's also a clip of that.

Hornussen is described as a mix of golf and baseball, and I had never heard of it before reading storied about the Schwingfest. Here's another video explaining hornussen, also from Swissinfo:



I think these traditions are so interesting and Swiss! It almost makes me wish I had decided to go check it out... But, then I remember those crowds, and realize that it was probably for the best that I didn't! Yesterday I actually got as close as Solothurn and Biel (in the train) to Burgdorf, and the fans that came onto the train were crazy! One group of pensioners, in particular, was SUPER sloshed, wearing leis and rainbow wigs, and yelling up and down the length of train car. So not Swiss, which seems ironic, given how Swiss Schwingfest is!

Heat, sleep and junk mail.

It is currently freakishly hot here in Zürich. Well, I guess it isn't so hot, but the utter lack of air conditioning means that there is almost zero chance to cool down. When I got in to Zürich yesterday evening, my flat was quite toasty.

Eventually, it became cooler outside, so I opened my (screenless) door and windows as wide as possible, and actually slept with everything just open to the outside. Since I'm on the first floor and have had a cat stalker, this made me a little nervous, but it was too hot for any other option. And, luckily, there just aren't that many bugs in Zürich (and, compared to Alaska, the bugs anywhere else are really nothing anyways), so it works to have everything open even without screens.

Thanks to my jet lag and lack of sleep for the previous 30 hours, I actually slept rather well until about 6 am, when the planes started roaring over my building. My neighborhood, Schwamendingen, seems to get the prime plane-landing time slots of 6 am (for an hour or so) and 11 pm (again, for an hour or so). Actually, one of the selling points of my current flat was that the plane traffic is much quieter here than it was at my old flat. It's amazing what moving 1.2 km can do for you! Although it is definitely quieter, with all of my windows and a door wide open, the plane traffic was enough to wake me up.

Which brings me to the most fantastic piece of junk mail I have ever received, which was waiting for me in my mailbox when I got home.

Ever since I move to Zürich almost 3 years ago, there has been a tussle between Germany and Switzerland as to when and where flights can approach the Zürich airport over German airspace. Recently this dispute ended with Switzerland making quite a few concessions, which means more air traffic over Zürich city. Given how much Swiss people like their quiet, this caused an uproar and is definitely a sensitive topic in my neighborhood, which was one of those that was affected by this change. They must be getting ready to have a vote about something related, because I had this fantastic postcard in the mail:

If you take a closer look, you can see that the directions state that if you see a plane crashing into your house, you should grab your child and your hard hats and hide under a table. Because that would definitely help if a plane crashed into your house? And everyone has hard hats lying around?

Also, apparently plane noise can cause heart attacks (third line down)? And when the airplane noise woke me up and disturbed me this morning, I should've put on some noise-canceling headphones that would be hanging from my ceiling. Guess I'll know for next time!

I don't know exactly what this postcard is for (although I think I'm supposed to vote no for sonething...), but it is totally amazing. I think I'm going to keep it and frame it as a shining example of the random things I have gotten in the mail here.

Arctic laundry.

Today I got to do laundry and take a shower, which was totally amazing! We're allowed to do laundry once every two weeks, and I find it rather ridiculous that I can do laundry more frequently in an arctic field camp than in Switzerland! But clean clothes are definitely amazing.

This may sound ridiculous, but...

...the most amazing thing happened to me today! I got to do laundry!

While that may not seem to be a super exciting thing, it is positively thrilling if you haven't been able to do laundry for 5 weeks and your next official laundry slot (that you will be in the country for) is in late July.

I have mentioned before how complicated laundry can be here, but my current laundry situation is quite unusual, even for Switzerland. In my building, we are given a washing slot once every 3 weeks. Because we don't have a tumbler (dryer), we are given two days together (so that we can wash on the first day and let our stuff dry on the second day, I guess?).

My days are Friday and Saturday, which means I have to do my laundry on Friday if I a) wish for it to dry within my time-slot and b) want to do anything on Saturday. Because I'm doing 3 weeks worth of laundry and towels and bed linens, this ends up to be quite a few load of laundry, with each wash cycle being over an hour. Thankfully, I have a flexible job so that I can work from home for a morning if I need to, but it is definitely challenging to arrange my schedule so that I can get all of my laundry done and dried in the time allotted.

And, I was on vacation over my last time slot, which is how I went 5 weeks without doing laundry. Also, I am leaving for the US 2 days before my next laundry slot, so, in theory, my next official laundry slot when I will be in the country is in late July. Yikes!

Of course, it actually isn't totally as bad as it sounds, because the Pattons and I stayed in holiday cottages while in France, and Jessi was nice enough to make sure that the first and last places we stayed had washing machines. So I packed only dirty clothes to France, washed them the day we arrived, and then did some wash a few days before the end of our trip. So I haven't gone totally without washing anything these 5 weeks (I'm pretty sure I don't have enough socks or underwear!), but it was definitely getting to the point that I am quite happy to be able to do laundry, especially before my trip to the US.

I have been stalking the washing room for the past week and tonight discovered that it was open, because the people whose washing day it is are retired and did their laundry during the day. I had a rather confusing and entertaining conversation with the husband (the same man who before told me that he has lived in the building for 40 years!!!) to get permission to do wash on their day. In the end, he told me that his wife was out swimming and that he was the husband, so he had no idea about the laundry, but that I should just go ahead and do it, and that it was okay for me to hang it to dry in the drying room.

It was an amazing moment for me. I am so excited for clean clothes and towels!

Have I ever mentioned that Switzerland is fantastic?

In case you've missed all of the other times that I've mentioned it, I think Switzerland is fantastic! Of course, it has its own issues, but it is a pretty fabulous place to live, and here is yet another study confirming my opinion, ranking Switzerland as the happiest country in the world.

It's sort of nice here.

Zürich HB on a rainy Saturday night.

There is nothing quite like the Zürich HB on a rainy Saturday night. (It hasn't stopped raining for 36 hours, I think...) 

This Saturday night it is a bizarre mixture of business professionals in suits attending a young innovators competition, enthusiastic football (soccer) fans wearing their team scarves and waving flags, Turkish people protesting something (maybe the shooting that happened earlier this week?) and waving flags, multiple hen party groups dressed wildly (some with flaming pink hats, others in bright striped outfits) and taking shots exuberantly, the usual harried travelers just arriving in Zürich, some motorcycle fans who are waving flags and rallying about something, hikers returning from a day out, a man in a full-length rain slicker with a pointy hat that makes him look like a wizard, and a nun or two. 

Seriously, this place is fantastic for people-watching. 

No people in this photo- I missed them all! Bummer...

Should I stay or should I go?

Recently I've been thinking a lot about the choice to move back to the US (which is the plan), versus staying or moving back here at some point. There are pros and cons for both, and I'm definitely looking forward to being closer to my family when I move back. But today I saw this blog post from another expat here in Switzerland about why staying here is so attractive, and I totally agree! If only I could have the best of both worlds...

On the streets of Zürich.

Although this doesn't quite top the red pickup truck with a confederate flag hanging in the rear window that I once saw tooling around my neighborhood, I saw this beauty last night. I was pretty surprised to see something so bright (hot pink!) and so large on the streets here. I certainly hope they weren't driving into the city, although I guess they could always drive on the tram tracks, since this vehicle is about the same size!

Living abroad and creative replacements.

I feel like living abroad has taught me a lot about creative replacements and making due with what you have. When you move somewhere with only two suitcases and are on a tight budget, you just don't have everything that you might normally have. For my first year here, I hiked in tennis shoes and jeans. While I am very happy to have gotten some hiking gear, as it makes the whole experience much more comfortable, I had some really amazing hikes while wearing tennis shoes.

When cooking, I have also run in to the need to make replacements. For example, brown sugar isn't sold here, so I had to track down a sort-of molasses replacement to mix with white sugar to make a quasi-brown sugar. If cornmeal isn't available, polenta can be a satisfactory replacement. Chocolate chips can be replaced with chopped chocolate bars. I just add extra jalapeno peppers when a recipe calls for Rotel. I have no replacement for corn syrup, so I just don't make anything that requires it. And the list could go on and on...

Moving in and furnishing my own flat has also meant that I have tried to make due with as little as possible, especially since I know that I'll be moving in less than a year. This means that I have few pots and pans, and that I often use every pan I own when I cook and/or bake and have to creatively clean things mid-cooking to pull everything together.

I've also given up on attending fitness classes at ETH, because it was just too difficult to keep up with the German while also being coordinated. In general, my strategy of just trying to do what other people were doing worked, except when I watched the wrong person. There was one too many times in which I was called out in front of the whole class in German, didn't understand what was going on, and then was called out for not understanding and for speaking English, and finally I had enough. So, now I do exercise videos (in English) in my living room.

This past week, I added a new video to my routine to change things up a little and was surprised in the middle when the instructor told us to grab our free weights. I have no weights, so I ran into my kitchen and grabbed the first heavy things I could find, which ended up being a bag of oatmeal and a bag of lentils. I felt so ridiculous following along to this video and flailing around my bags of lentils and oatmeal, but I guess it worked! And I'm really happy that the bags didn't explode on me...

I'm so glad to be learning all of these new life skills!

A scene from my Swiss life.

So, last weekend I got super mondo lost while hiking, until I found a bus stop that could tell me where I was. I guess, in theory, I knew where I was because the iPhone could tell me where I was on the map, but when you're in a random farmer's field, the details are a little sketchy.

Anyways, I found this bus stop and waited around for the bus to come and save me/ take me home. The bus pulled up to me (I was at the front door), and then it just sat there. I thought maybe the driver needed a few moments for himself before he picked me up, so I just stood there.

Finally the doors open, and I entered the bus. The driver said something to me in Swiss German that I absolutely could not understand. I have made some progress in understanding Swiss German, but it does not extend to strong small-town dialects in the Bernese Oberland, apparently. I assumed he wanted proof of my ticket, so I showed him my GA and smiled.

Then he said the exact same thing to me. I turned in to a deer in the headlights and asked him to repeat, yet again. Again, absolutely no understanding happened in my sun-addled head.

Finally, I had to tell him (in German) that I just didn't understand very much. He repeated himself in high-ish German, and I finally understood that I should've pushed a button on the outside of the bus to open the door, because he did not want to open it for me from the inside.

Really?

I tried to apologize as best I could and then sat down. I don't know why this was worth 5 minutes of everyone's time to make sure that I knew which button to press to open the bus door, but apparently it was really important. Sometimes the Swiss are really in to rules, and this must've been one of them.

Note to self: bus drivers are not there to open the door for you.

At least he didn't drive away without me!

Kissing is becoming normal. And that's stressful.

I may have mentioned before, but the custom here of kissing three times for greeting and goodbyes can be stressful for an American that really just wants to shake your hand, please.

Finally, after two years, I'm really starting to get used to the whole three air kisses while touching cheeks and maybe or maybe not talking.

I know which side to start on (offer my right cheek).

I know the proper stance (grab at least one of their arms, usually the forearm or elbow region, and then hold on for the duration).

I have discovered that a mix of kissing noises and talking is much less awkward than just kissing kisses. So I always try to think of something to say during these interludes. Since you're normally saying hello or goodbye, it isn't so hard.

However, this does not stop the awkwardness.

Every time I go back to the US, I have this urge to kiss greet and goodbye everyone. I feel like we haven't properly greeted each other unless we've kissed three times, but everyone just wants to shake my hand or give me a hug. There have been a few times that I've been pulled in to a hug and I've automatically started the kissing ritual (touch right cheeks, say something). Thankfully, I've been able to recover before it got awkward, but...

To make matters worse, now I've gotten to know my Swiss friends so well that, instead of greeting with kisses, we've progressed to the next friendship level in which they greet with hugs. So we're back to square one, only the roles are reversed. I go in for kisses, and they just want to hug me. Why do they change the rules on me?

Life is so confusing!

Missing the sun...

I was missing the sun, so I thought I'd look at pictures from this past weekend. This was the view from my train on Monday. Taking the train through the mountains is really one of my favorite things!

Scenes from my Easter.

I spent this Easter in Ticino with my friend Stefanie. Easter Sunday was a beautiful sunny day, so we took the opportunity to walk by the lake and visit a garden in the afternoon, before having Easter dinner with her family. It was an amazing day!