Thursday, June 30, 2005

How things change

I'm sitting here in my hotel room working on my presentation for tomorrow. If I look to the left I can gaze down across the beautiful Thunersee to the Alps (which are unfortunately enshrouded in clouds this afternoon). Meanwhile, if I look to my right I've got the TV tuned to sports on al-Jazeera. And Gretchen just got back from a walk into town in time to go to the pool and sauna before dinner. I'm definitely having one of those moments where I realise how far removed we are from our humdrum routine back in the States...

Wednesday, June 29, 2005

The Alps beckon again

You think we couldn't top last weekend's cowfest, but we're headed back to the mountains again this weekend. I'm giving a presentation in Beatenberg on Friday morning, so Gretchen will come with me and afterward we'll head over to the nearby car-free town of Wengen for the weekend. Now that a cold front FINALLY passed through tonight after a few weeks of 30+ degree weather, we're actually having to pack long pants and fleece...

Tuesday, June 28, 2005

I love a good storm

A big storm just blew through Basel and the temperature dropped from 91 to 77 in a matter of a few minutes. It feels SO good to be able to open the windows and let in the breeze! Hopefully this will be a precursor for more good things to come (aka cooler weather).

News from Wisconsin

From time to time, I like to use this blog to keep our global readers abreast of all the breaking news coming from my home state of Wisconsin. I especially enjoyed reading this editorial piece from today's Wisconsin State Journal expressing opposition to a proposed fee on ice shanties. For those of you who are Wisconsin illiterate, ice shanties are the little buildings that people put up on frozen lakes during the winter that are used as shelter while ice fishing. Apparently a state legislator has proposed a $34 annual ice shanty fee (similiar to what is done in neighborhing Minnesota) and the editorial staff of the newspaper is concerned that it might hurt tourism. This is why I love Wisconsin.

Considering the current heat wave in Basel I would give anything to be on a frozen lake today. Just looking at these pictures I feel cooler already. Here is a very charming shanty (painted Badger colors) on Lake Mendota in Madison, WI (just down the street from where I grew up).



This picture was taken on Kirk's first (and likely last) walk on a frozen lake. It took me years to convince that it was safe. Months later he found out that my sister broke through a crack on the ice just feet away from where this picture was taken-- on the very next day! That's why I say it was probably his last walk on a frozen lake. Oh well, I was proud of him for trying. Please note the Green Bay Packers shanty in the background.

The latest...

...politically incorrect entry from my Onion daily calendar:
Latest News of Israeli-Palestinian Violence Makes Man Hungry For Falafel

PISCATAWAY, NJ - A CNN report on a suicide bombing in Tel Aviv put Piscataway resident Larry Zahn in the mood for a falafel sandwich Monday. "Oh, man, I could go for some falafel right about now," said Zahn, 41, watching footage of injured Israelis being loaded onto ambulances. "A big pita stuffed with falafel, hummus, lettuce, and lots of tahini sauce. And some dolmades on the side. Yeah." In January 2001, a CNN report on an Indian earthquake gave Zahn an intense craving for chicken biryani.

(And that's not as bad as today's headline: "Pope Forgives Molested Children".)

Monday, June 27, 2005

Put this in your pipe and smoke it

Since Gretchen has gotten in the spirit of commenting on some of the stereotypical Swiss quirks, let me jump in with one that I've meant to comment on a number of times. Every time I go to the mountains, I'm amazed at how into the outdoors people are here. You can be hiking along, huffing and puffing and gasping for air, and be passed like you're standing still by an 80-year old man. In Zermatt we had friends who got to the top of one of the mountains on the cable car first thing in the morning and met a guy who had hiked up the whole way through the snow (since he had to leave before dawn, he did this with a miner's helmet with a lamp on it). I could go on and on about this--it's really quite impressive. But the thing that blows me away is how often someone will pass us while hiking, skiing, etc., but we're ultimately able to catch up to them...because they've stopped to have a smoke. Just when you think you're going to enjoy some pristine mountain air, you run into a bunch of hikers on the trail or skiers on the chairlift inhaling a pack of cigarettes before running you off the mountain. It's the sort of thing you expect to see someplace like France or Italy--in the latter, incidentally, bars and restaurants are now smoke-free--rather than Switzerland. Maybe people figure they're in such good shape that the occasional pack of Marlboros couldn't possibly do them any harm. And I guess when they can hike up a steep mountainside faster than I can run downhill, maybe they're right...

It's not your beer

In our German lesson this morning, we had a discussion about the differences between Americans and the Swiss. Because we were learning comparatives, we were supposed to say things like "The Swiss are nicer than Americans", etc. Our German teacher is German, not Swiss, which meant we could pretty much say whatever we wanted to describe the Swiss without offending anyone. I wanted to say "The Swiss are nosier than Americans", but our German teacher couldn't figure out a good translation for "nosy". She was translating it into "curious", which in this sense is not the same. She asked me and my German lesson partner (also an American who agreed with my use of the adjective nosy) to give some examples of what we meant. She was very interested to hear about what we would consider to be the nosy ways of the Swiss. I'm sure that any expat living in Switzerland could come up with a few examples!

Then, on the way home from my German lesson, I experienced the absolute perfect example of what I would call Swiss "nosiness". I had picked up a few groceries on the way home and was carrying a shopping bag as I walked to my house from the tram. I could tell there was someone walking behind me, and she was a bit too close so I slowed down to allow her to pass because it seemed like she was in more of a hurry than I was. As she passed me, she stopped to tell me (in German) that I really should carry my shopping bag over my shoulder rather than in my hand because it's going to cause damage to my fingers. She continued on about how it's bad for your hand to carry something heavy that way (that way being the way you carry a bag), so I should really consider using a bag that can go over my shoulder. I was stunned. Why should she care how I carry my bag? While I understood everything she said, I couldn't think of anything to say in response other than "I only speak a bit of German" (this is my standard phrase I use with every German speaker), then I wished her a pleasant day, and crossed the street to our house. What I really wanted to say, but didn't because she likely lives in our neighborhood so I didn't want to be totally rude, is "Ich glaube, das ist nicht Ihr Bier." Our German teacher taught us this expression last year. It basically means "It's none of your business", but for some reason it translates as "I believe that this is not your beer".

Our discussion over comparing Americans and the Swiss will continue in Wednesday's German lesson. You can be sure I'll share this example. And for the record, there are also many good things I can say about the Swiss, not just negatives like being nosy. I will certainly say that it is safer here, more orderly here (which is not necessarily always a positive), children have more independence here, people here are generally more active (outdoors), and the list goes on. But without a doubt, Americans are not as nosy as the Swiss. Or at least they're more discreet about it!

Sunday, June 26, 2005

Testing 1-2-3...

So Blogger evidently has a new tool to upload photos (we currently go through a laborious process of first uploading photos to Shutterfly, then pasting them into our posts)...this is a test to see how it works, with one we forgot to post last month of possibly the best food market we've ever been to, La Boqueria in Barcelona.

My two cents

I suppose I should add my two cents about our weekend excursion to Adelboden. As expected, I LOVED the Alpaufzug! It was totally worth getting up at 5:00 AM, and worth the money we spent on a hotel the night before just so we could be there early enough. It was definitely one of those "only in Switzerland" moments which reminded me, once again, of how incredibly thankful I am for the opportunity to live here for a couple years. The cows were amazing. I don't understand how they can hike all the way up the mountain. The climb is so steep, the path is narrow, there was tons of slippery mud because of all the rain, and they sometimes have to walk on these little wooden steps. I didn't like thinking about how hard it was for them. It was much better to think about how happy they were to eat yummy grass at the top.

As Kirk said, we give a big thumbs up to the Alpaufzug. What I don't give a thumbs up to is staying in a hotel with Grady. Although he generally behaved himself (only minimal barking), I do not like sharing a bed with him. It's no secret that I adore my dog. But unlike many people in my life (my parents, my sister, lots of friends) who have allowed their dog in their bed, Grady is not even allowed in our bedroom. He may not be particularly well-trained, but that's one circumstance in which we draw the line between dog and human. There are plenty of other places in our house where he can sleep. For him, a night in the hotel meant sleeping in a comfy bed between Kirk and Gretchen. For Kirk and Gretchen, a dog in the bed meant nobody (except perhaps Grady) slept well! Probably the funniest part about our hotel stay (other than the 5 pounds of black fur he left on the previously bleached-white bed sheets) was his reaction to the mirror in the elevator (one of the walls in the little elevator was a big mirror). He's never paid any attention to mirrors in the past, but whenever we got into the elevator he jumped up on a railing to get a closer look at himself in the mirror. He seemed to really enjoy it. We'll never understand this dog.

One final thought on the weekend. I love my Spätzle-Ass.

Really clean mushrooms

I was just washing mushrooms because I'm planning to grill some veggies (among other things) for dinner tonight. Every single time I cook with mushrooms I think of the first time I ever washed mushrooms. My Mom always loved telling the story. It was one of those things I brought up for years because it always made her laugh. I'd say "Mom, remember that time you asked me to wash mushrooms for dinner?", and then she'd retell the story. It really wasn't even that funny, but it's just a good childhood memory. I'm not sure how old I was. I guess I was old enough to help in the kitchen but not old enough to know better. A few minutes after asking me to wash the mushrooms, she found me in front of the bathroom sink which was filled with soapy water... and the mushrooms! Nobody had ever told me that you don't wash mushrooms with the same Dial soap that I used to wash my body. I suppose we had to throw them all out. I was probably OK with that, because I never like mushrooms as a child anyway.

Cows on parade

(NOTE: If you don't care about Swiss cows--and just what type of person are you not to care about them?--you may want to scroll past this particular entry.)

So yesterday morning we were up at the crack of dawn to catch the Alpaufzug, in which several hundred cows walked up from the valley to a large Alpine meadow in the Engstligenalp where they spend the summer dining on mountain grass and enjoying the views. It's pretty impressive, since the walk is about 600 metres (2000 feet) straight up from the valley to the Engstligenalp. We watched a few groups set off from the base, then took the cable car up to the top and hiked part of the way down to see the first cows arrive. (On the way up in the cable car, Gretchen said "if we're here next year, I'm coming back and hiking up with them." After hiking a tiny portion of the steep, slippery slope I asked if she still planned to hike the whole thing next year and she said "No way.") Anyway, these were the first arrivals to where we were standing (they had probably climbed up at least 1500 vertical feet by this point):



This is what it looked like after they passed us to face the last set of major switchbacks (that's Gretchen standing on the hillside in the far left center of the picture...you can also see kids at the back of the group--a lot of kids came up as shepherds and seemed to be having a blast). Oh, and there were even a couple of dudes playing big Alpenhorns, just in case the scene wasn't already Swiss enough:



This is Gretchen getting up close and personal with another group:



Then the big reward once they got to the top: flat terrain, fresh grass, cool mountain air, sun, beautiful views, cool clear streams to drink from:



Some of them had the hugest bells (and accompanying straps) I had ever seen. This one also had the indignity of having a milking stool strapped to its head (a "unicow?"). One thing that surprised me is that I always thought it was only bulls that had horns, but all of these female cows had horns. If you doubt that they're female, the udder on this one should convince you otherwise:



Finally, as we were getting ready to go back down on the cable car--hot, exhausted, our shoes coated in mud and perhaps more than a little cow shit--we saw what happens to those cows that can't make the walk. They literally put them on a separate cable car and send them up alone. I really wonder what was going through her mind on the way up:



So if you find yourself in Switzerland next June and have a hankering to see big Swiss milk cows with big bells in their natural Alpine environment, we highly recommend the Alpaufzug in Adelboden (although supposedly there are similar events throughout the Alps). Two thumbs up!

Saturday, June 25, 2005

Adelboden

We arrived in Adelboden last night just in time for a big thunderstorm--this was the view from our room:



So we were pleasantly surprised when we woke up at 5:00am this morning to go see the cows walk up the hill and saw this beautiful view of the moon over the Alps:

Reunion

One of the downsides of living here is that the distance and time make it difficult for me to get back home to California. Last year I had to miss my 20-year high school reunion, and now this weekend I'm missing an informal gathering in L.A. of my closest friends from college. We were all "house advisors" (the term for resident advisors in the dorms) together, but don't hold that against us--we may have had to confiscate the occasional beer but felt bad whenever we did! Anyway, hopefully Dave, Noelle, Tracey, Julie, Jen, both Steves, and anyone else I'm forgetting have a great time, and with any luck I'll make it next time.

Spätzle-Ass

No, that's not Gretchen's new nickname for me. It's the handy new kitchen accessory she bought this morning in Adelboden (much more about the awesome experience with the cows later). Spätzle is only one of the best side dishes in the whole wide world, and when Gretchen saw such a wonderfully named item she simply had to have it. Who knows if the spätzle will actually be any good; it's worth it just to have a spätzle-ass in the house.

How much?!

After searching fruitlessly, I finally found the new Ben Folds CD yesterday. The asking price? 25 Swiss francs, which is almost $20. For a CD! And this was at a place that usually has halfway fair prices by Swiss standards. I'm sorry, but even though that's only about $5 more than it would cost back in the States, I just couldn't bring myself to do it. Unless it's a double CD, there shouldn't be a 2 at the front of the price tag.(I guess I shouldn't complain too much--I later saw the new White Stripes for 30 Swissies...)

I learned something new today

Every week, The Economist runs one obituary. Often it's of someone famous, but sometimes they choose someone who is interesting for other reasons. This afternoon I was getting caught up on an issue from a few weeks ago and came across this fascinating obituary of a South African transplant surgeon named Hamilton Naki. Wow.

Friday, June 24, 2005

Pasty white me

The other day we took Grady for a walk and ran into his friend Toby. While saying hello to him, his Scottish owner arrived home. We were chatting with her when she all of a sudden noticed Gretchen's deep tan from the pool in contrast to my pallid legs and said in her best Scottish accent "Well, I can see which of you two sits in an office all day. You could be Scottish!"

(((That's Norwegian, thank you very much...)))

Feels like DC

According to the Weather Channel, the current temp is 32 (90F), feels like 34 (93F), and nice and humid with a dewpoint of 20 (68F) and thunderstorms allegedly on the way. Then again, I work in an air-conditioned office so I suppose I shouldn't be complaining...

Thursday, June 23, 2005

Happy happy

I think I finally got our comment thing sorted out. For the longest time, if you commented from our main blog page you got Haloscan--which I wanted, even if it occasionally acts up--but if you commented from an individual post you got Blogger comments, which I didn't want. So who knows if it will actually work, but at least I feel like I made some progress.

Oh, and I had Ben & Jerry's Chocolate Fudge Brownie ice cream tonight, which is a good thing when it's 80+ degrees inside the apartment.

And I finally checked out Weebl's Stuff for the first time in ages and found this annoying little ditty right before going to bed. (Peaches, anyone?)

This should be interesting...

We're trying something new and exciting this weekend. Actually, I should more appropriately classify it as daring and perhaps a bit crazy. We're going to spend a night in a hotel... with Grady! We really want to go see the cows climb up the mountain on Saturday, but they start at 5:15 AM (!!) and supposedly the whole thing is over in a couple hours, and the drive down there from Basel would take a couple hours, which means we would have to leave our house at 3:00 AM to get there on time. It would be like Fasnacht all over again! So, at Kirk's wise suggestion, I booked a room for tomorrow night at a hotel in Adelboden (the town at the base of the cow-climb) that allows dogs. Hopefully they won't change their mind when they meet Grady and all of his lebendig-ness (one time the woman at Grady's kennel described him as "lebendig", which means lively, and I love that word now). We stayed at a hotel with him just once before, several years ago during a DC to Wisconsin drive. I think we stayed in some cheap place (the only kind that allow dogs in the US) in Indiana somewhere, and it was probably one of the worst night's sleep I've ever had. He could never get settled and kept bugging me all night. This time, I don't think it will make much difference considering we'll be getting up before the crack of dawn anyway!

More SBB

Little did I know that my little problem last week with the Swiss Railways would be a harbinger of much worse--evidently the entire train system in Switzerland shut down yesterday. Things are going to hell in a handbasket, I tell ya...

Wednesday, June 22, 2005

Somebody turn on the air conditioning!

I have so little tolerance for heat. I get totally lethargic, my brain freezes, and I have no desire to do anything that requires movement. It has been hot in Basel for several days now and I've had enough of it! By hot I mean in the 30s which translates to high 80s and 90s in "real" temperatures. I realize this is the usual summer weather in many places, but I'm a wimp. I lived in DC for 10 years and never got used to the summer heat there. But at least in DC everything is air conditioned! Virtually nothing is air conditioned in Basel, or if it is, it's only moderately cooled. I still sweat and I hate feeling all sticky.

We play a fun little game to try to keep our house cool. In the morning (when it's cool), I open all the windows to air out the house and hope for a good cross breeze. Then when it starts to warm up (about 9:00), I shut everything hoping to trap in the cool air and I don't open anything up again until the sun goes away. I feel like I'm living in a cave because I'm blocking out all the light.

Even last night at the drum performance, the theater was only slightly cooled which meant I was sweating as I sat amongst a crowd of hundreds, some of whom obviously didn't wear their deoderant yesterday. This morning at my German lesson, which is in a tiny office on the top floor of a 3 story (4 story American) building it was already 30 degrees inside and that was at 9:00!

Then there are the trams. Only a few trams are air conditioned, like the number 8 and the number 6 and sometimes the number 14. We take the number 15 so we ALWAYS get the old trams with only windows which frankly don't do that much for ventilation. It's like a sauna in there. The other day when I was taking a bus (same idea) home with a friend, we actually got off way before our stop in order to transfer to a tram which looked to be air conditioned. I didn't care how out of the way it was, at least it was cool.

And poor Grady. How would you like to be wearing a black fur coat in this heat? I've had to take him for very short walks, and otherwise he just lays around the house eating ice cubes (which I feed him).

I know somebody who's lived in Europe for a few years is going to read this and say "this is nothing compared to the summer of 2003!", blah blah blah. I realize that. I've heard all about that summer, and I'm very thankful that we didn't live here then. I don't think I would've survived. For now, I'm focused on this week, in the summer of 2005, and thinking about when I should next go to the pool since that's the only way to keep cool!

Bang the drum slowly

Last night we went with a few friends to see Yamato, a Japanese drumming group. It was sort of a combination of Stomp and a martial arts film. (And yes, I realise most martial arts films these days are actually Chinese, not Japanese...just trust me on this one.) I must say, there's something primal about a bunch of people pounding drums in unison. Not in a wannabe-hippies-sitting-in-a-drum-circle kind of way, but in a rattle-your-fillings-and-get-the-adrenaline-pumping way. (Gretchen felt empowered because half of the drummers were women, and they rocked.) Other than perhaps an FC Basel match, it's hard to imagine a more fired-up crowd in Switzerland--I figure it's because drums are such a big part of Fasnacht here.

The date is set

Grady will have his arthroscopic elbow surgery on Thursday, August 18. We have to wait until August because Grady needs to stay at home with me for at least a week after surgery (as opposed to going to the kennel) and considering our travel schedule for the next couple months, August 18 is the first chance we'll have to do it. This week would have worked for us, but unfortunately the surgeon is in "Congress" in Florida. What exactly do the Swiss mean when they say "Congress"? It's not like Congress in Washington. They use the word a lot, and I think it means like a conference or something. Anyway, he's gone this week, and then our traveling extravaganza begins next week. We have a weekend in the mountains, and a week later we're going to Krakow (Kirk has meetings there and I get to go along), and then we're going to Copenhagen for a weekend. After that, of course, I'm leaving for almost 3 weeks in Wisconsin. So August 18 it is. For now, at least the pain/anti-inflammatory pills seem to be working well and Grady is not limping too bad. Right now I think he's much more concerned with trying to keep cool in our un-air conditioned house!

Tuesday, June 21, 2005

First day of summer...

...and it's currently 31 degrees (88F), down from 34 degrees (93F) a couple of hours ago. I think we've had more 30+ degree days the past couple of weeks than all of last summer combined.

Stumped

I almost forgot about this--last year when I first moved to Basel I had an encounter on the tram with a guy who tried to light the stump of his arm on fire. I didn't think much of it again until recently when I was in the Coop near my office and I saw the same guy! At least I think it was the same guy...I'd recognise that stump anywhere. Luckily, this time when I saw him we wasn't doing anything untoward to himself. Just goes to show what a small town this can be. (Or maybe how few amputees there are.)

SBB done me wrong

(NOTE: Yes, I realise if this is what constitutes a quality-of-life issue here, life is pretty good. Yes, this is not exactly Iraq or Darfur or Nepal or Afghanistan or East Saint Louis or Southeast DC or Appalachia. Duly noted.)

In a world of chaos and uncertainty, there is one thing you can count on: Swiss trains run on time. It's an article of faith that you can generally set your watch to the arrival and departure of trains here (the only exceptions being acts of God or slackers from France, Italy or Germany). When they changed the train schedules last year to make rail travel even more efficient, it was major national news. So when we had difficulties last Friday, it was if there was a tear in the fabric of the universe.

On the way back from Brussels, two colleagues and I boarded the 4:43pm train at the Zurich Airport for the 10-minute ride to Zurich Hauptbahnhof, where we would catch the 5:02pm to Basel. As we were pulling into the station we all of a sudden came to a stop and waited. And waited some more. Finally we pulled into the station at 5:00pm--seven minutes late, but just enough time to catch our train if it was close and we ran. So we quickly checked the yellow Abfahrt board (I was just looking for an excuse to say "Abfahrt") and saw that the Basel train would leave in two minutes from the next track over. So we ran downstairs, over one track, up the stairs, and saw the sign for a train to...Brig? Utterly confused because the Abfahrt board seldom lies, we made the mistake of running for the main station rather than going back downstairs to find a much closer departure board. When we got there, we found a board that said the train for Basel was a bit behind schedule but would be leaving momentarily from five tracks away. So we launched into a full sprint (still wearing business suits on an unseasonably warm day) and arrived just in time...to watch the train pull away. DOH! It's not so much being late that was bothersome--all it meant was an additional half-hour spent at the station drinking a beer--but rather the realisation that the Swiss Railways can be...(gasp)...fallible. Once the dominoes start falling, next thing you know the Swiss might start making noise after 10:00pm, shopping after 6:00pm, etc...

Monday, June 20, 2005

A bit of advice

Last night we had a few friends over for a BBQ, and I made, among other things, a lemon poppyseed cake. It was one of my Mom's recipe. Despite not having made it in years, for some reason it popped into my head a few days ago and I thought it would go well after a summer meal of meat cooked on the grill. I had to laugh as I dug it out of my recipe "ziploc". All of my most treasured recipes are those that are written on scraps of paper, or those that are printed out as part of emails that had been sent to me, and that have been shoved into a big ziploc bag. Some of them aren't even folded well. I suppose I could transfer all of them onto nicer paper, with neater writing that's easier to read and would make sense to people other than me, but I think there's something really charming about my random recipe collection in the ziploc. Most of them are things my Mom emailed me or told me over the phone. Included in the ziploc are a few pages from the first Thanksgiving dinner I ever made. I guess that would've been in 1996 or 1997. I wrote out very carefully how to make a turkey and gravy and stuffing, etc., all according to my Mom's suggestions. The lemon poppyseed cake recipe was scribbled onto a big piece of orange paper. I have no idea why I had orange paper sitting around my house at the time. On the back of the paper were some notes in my old roommate Kristina's handwriting. That means it had to be from 1997 or earlier. In addition to the list of ingredients, I had written a number of special instructions like "add one egg at a time and beat well after each egg". I can't tell you how much I wished I could have called my Mom to make sure I had all the special instructions written correctly. Overall, the cake turned out fine, other than the fact that the top layer remained in the bundt pan after I flipped it upside down. This is a very long story for just one bit of advice-- don't wait until it's too late to get those favorite family recipes written down somewhere. It doesn't matter where-- orange scraps of paper are fine-- but just do it. Believe me, there will come a day when you'll want to be able to make your Mom's favorite lemon poppyseed cake, and you'll be glad that you saved those notes you took 10 years ago.

My new friend and the Ettenbühl gardens

I have a new friend. She's a German woman (living in Basel), quite a bit older than me, and she loves to share all her knowledge about possible excursions in the greater Basel area. She and her husband (who are both retired) spend a lot of time exploring the area, on foot, on bike, with the train, in their car, you name it. Over the last several weeks I've joined her on a number of walks, some of which are more like what we would call hikes, the but the Swiss call everything a walk. She's also suggested dozens of fun places to walk or to take a bike ride, as well as charming small towns and good restaurants. As an American, sometimes it's hard to believe that there are people out there, like this new friend, who are just genuinely nice and enjoy sharing their fun experiences with others. Sometimes my cynical side comes out and thinks why is she so nice? Does she really want to show me all this stuff just because she enjoys doing it?

This afternoon, she took me and another American woman to the Ettenbühl gardens in Germany. It is a beautiful place, not far from Basel, with literally hundreds of roses as well as many other beautiful flowers and trees. They also have a restaurant and a B & B on site. It was a lovely afternoon (albeit incredibly hot) and it's definitely a place I never would have discovered on my own. I can't resist sharing. Here are a few of my flower photos from Ettenbühl.





Sunday, June 19, 2005

G-dog

Grady may have his issues, but to quote our friend Dave, today he's "lookin' good, feelin' good":

Tax time

It seems strange to refer to June as tax time, but I've managed to procrastinate both our US and Swiss taxes. Until now, that is. I hate to complain about taxes because I'm certainly not anti-tax and believe in paying my fair share. Heck, in a sick way I've almost enjoyed doing taxes in the past (if for no other reason that it's always fun to get a refund). We've always been spoiled (in a way) in the sense that we never really had complicated finances--buying a house and contributing to charity was about as fancy as it got. Not that our financial situation is that much different here, but all of a sudden I have to know about things like foreign earned income exclusions, bona fide residence tests, MACRS depreciation, property changed to rental use, etc. I have the distinct pleasure of trying to make sense of things like this from the IRS Tax Guide for U.S. Citizens and Resident Aliens Abroad (which I highly recommend if you're trying to overcome insomnia):
You are not considered to have a tax home in a foreign country for any period in which your abode is in the United States. However, your abode is not necessarily in the United States while you are temporarily in the United States. Your abode is also not necessarily in the United States merely because you maintain a dwelling in the United States, whether or not your spouse or dependents use the dwelling. "Abode" has been variously defined as one's home, habitation, residence, domicile, or place of dwelling. It does not mean your principal place of business. "Abode" has a domestic rather than a vocational meaning and does not mean the same as "tax home."

WTF?!?! Of course I'm too stubborn to hire someone to figure this stuff out, and Gretchen breaks out in hives if she looks at a tax form for longer than 3 seconds. Even using tax software, I feel like I just went straight from basic algebra to quantum physics. And as hard as it is to figure out our US taxes, I don't even want to think about our Swiss taxes, which are of course in German...

Things I don't get

I learned something new on my latest trip: hidden away near the train station at the Zurich Airport is a shop specialising in, shall we say, adult products. I'm no prude about these sorts of things, but I couldn't help but wonder what their business model was. I mean, is their target customer the guy who forgot to pick up perfume for his wife at the duty-free shop and so picks up a copy of the "Buffy the Vampire Layer" DVD instead? Or perhaps someone who couldn't get a dildo through customs and so needs to get one at the airport on the way home instead? Given the number of these types of establishments in seemingly every town in Switzerland (they're much more open about that sort of thing here than back home), it's just hard to see the value of having a place at the airport. (Maybe this calls for more research the next time I'm at Zurich Airport?)

Picks of the day

Picked up while in Hong Kong a few weeks ago: the new Gorillaz CD, Demon Days. Sounds most excellent on the iPod. Didn't pick up while in Tokyo because it was expensive and now regretting it because I can't seem to find it here: the new Ben Folds CD, Songs for Silverman. Picked up in Basel as consolation for not being able to find Ben Folds: the new Bruce Springsteen CD, Devils & Dust, a mostly acoustic piece along the lines of the brilliant Nebraska.

Well, that was different

Yesterday we finally went to Art Basel, which is evidently world-famous in the art world. Basically, galleries from all over the world come to display and sell modern art. (Thanks to Alexis for pointing out this article--unfortunately we seem to have missed the bar of soap made from Silvio Berlusconi's fat...I'm not sure if that's a shame or not.) The sheer volume and, in many cases, wierdness of the art on display was rather impressive. Compared to when The Big Finn went last week, the freak ratio was fairly low...we figure the true art freaks go during the week so they don't have to mingle with the hoi polloi (i.e., people like us) who go on the weekend. Unfortunately they didn't let us bring our camera inside, but before we went in we managed to take a few pictures of possibly the most bizarre thing we saw all day: Bar Rectum (or Bar Anus, or Arsch Bar...no, I swear I'm not making any of this up). We somehow weren't in the mood to stop for a drink. Ewwwwww.

Friday, June 17, 2005

My new favorite carb

I found a new kind of bread today. Whenever I go to the store here, I'm totally consumed with all the fresh bread products. There are so many different kinds --dark ones, light ones, seedy ones, crunchy ones, skinny ones and thick ones-- and I want to try them all. You know that rule about not going shopping when you're hungry? It's especially true if you live in Switzerland and they have a fresh bakery (which of course they all do). I'm totally enticed by the smell of fresh baked bread at Coop, and have to do everything in my power to refrain from buying a bunch of rolls for a snack every time. Anyway, this afternoon I bought a bread I had never tried before. It's called Bio Butterweggen. It was even on Aktion (sale)! I just ripped off a piece to try it (I'm so hungry and waiting for Kirk to get home from Brussels before making dinner) and it's delicious! It's buttery and really doughy (is that a word?) and I'm sure has nothing of any nutritional value in it. I can't wait try a slice of it for breakfast with some peanut butter or maybe I'll really splurge and have it with Nutella. It might become like the Zopf is for Kirk!

Now that the dryer is fixed...

... I should really stay home and do laundry all day. I have tons of laundry to do. The towels, the sheets, Grady's blankets, stuff from Kirk's travels, not to mention all of my clothes from the past couple weeks... It's starting to take over our bedroom so I should probably move it to the laundry room. But it is another beautiful way, so there's no way I can be inside today. I plan to spend another afternoon at the pool after my pilates class this morning.

Anyway, the dryer repairman came by yesterday morning and replaced a part that he described as "the brain" of the dryer. He spoke very good English and those were his exact words. No wonder it didn't work anymore. Now it seems to be working better than ever! My first load this morning dried more quickly than ever before. While he was here, I took the opportunity to get a couple tips from him about how to ensure I'm using the machines appropriately. I showed him the settings I use on the washer and said that it is a 44 minute cycle. "Is that the shortest time for a cycle?" I asked. He responded "Yes, of course. The usual cycle is more like an hour and a half." I continued to explain how difficult it is to adjust to these machines after using our huge machines in the US that run in about 20 minutes. As expected, his response was "That's true, but I don't like those machines. They just go 'swish, swish' (and he made some hand motions to demonstrate a giant American machine's washing process). These machines are much more enery efficient". I stopped there. I didn't need to tell him how I don't care that they're energy efficient because I don't want to spend my entire 2 years in Basel doing laundry. Seriously, sometimes I feel like I'm in a constant state of washing and drying clothes. The machines are SO small and take SO long, and I often dream of the jumbo sized washing machine we bought in Arlington just months before we moved that our tenants are now enjoying. Then again, I really don't feel I can complain. At least we have our very own washer and dryer in our basement and we don't have any rules about when we can use them. We can use them at night, we can use them on the weekend, and we don't need to sign up for laundry day. Isn't that the way it is in most Swiss apartment buildings?

Thursday, June 16, 2005

More about the cows

We've just learned that an exciting Swiss event will take place on Saturday, June 25. We've been waiting for months to learn the date of it, and today it was announced. Kirk wrote a post about the Alpaufzug at Engstligenalp last year, and even included a link to a little video you can watch explaining what it's all about. My understanding of it is that it's a festival in a town in the Swiss Alps where the celebrate the day the cows walk up the mountain to graze for the summer. According to their website, more than 400 cows will be walking up the mountain. I seem to remember from the video we watched last year that the cows are even decorated for the special event. Can you imagine? I hope we can make it. This is something I just have to see.

Wednesday, June 15, 2005

Webcam

I just stumbled upon this cool webcam of the Barfüsserplatz. Supposedly it refreshes every 15 seconds. I love webcams, especially those of the mountains in Switzerland. Barfüsserplatz is one of the main squares in "downtown" Basel. Now all of you who live thousands of miles away can feel like you're visiting me in Basel while sitting at your desk!

Landjaeger

I never realized until very recently how much of a German influence I had growing up. Oma and Opa, my grandparents on my Dad's side, came to the US on a boat from Dresden in the 1920s. Somehow they made it to Milwaukee, along with all the other Germans who emigrated to the US at that time, and that's how my family ended up in Wisconsin. As a kid, we used lots of German words in our house, and I never thought anything of it. I just thought that's what things were called. The dog was a Hund, potatoes were Kartoffel, ham was Schinken, etc. We didn't mess with the der, die, das in those days. I had a great aunt whose name was Huntchen (yes, I'm serious), but we called her Tante (aunt in German) Huntchen and I never realized those were two separate words. I just thought the whole thing, Tantehuntchen, was a weird German name.

Opa was a pastry chef, and Oma was an amazing cook, so we ate well with them. Oma taught my Mom how to cook German food as well. I loved it all so much and of course now I'm kicking myself for never having the patience for letting my Oma or my Mom teach me how to make rouladen or sauerbraten or roast pork with sauerkraut or stuffed cabbage or dumplings.

We also regularly went to "the German butcher" to get meat and cheese. I don't know who this "German butcher" was, I just remember my Dad saying "I need to stop at the German butcher". I think he had a favorite place in both Madison and Milwaukee. After my Oma and Opa moved to Florida for the winters, my Dad would send them packages of goodies from "the German butcher". These packages included gross (my opinion, not theirs) sausages and meat spreads like Teewurst (I still don't know what that is), and something my Dad called "coarse met" which I think was short for Metwurst, both of which had the consistency of liver sausage. Her goody packages also included Stollen which I suppose my Dad got at the German bakery rather than the German butcher.

Even as recently as last year when I was caring for my Mom I would have to make special trips over to the Bavaria Sausage store on the other side of town to buy something for my Mom called Fleischkase. This is perhaps the grossest German meat of all. Technically, it could be translated into "meat cheese". It comes like a deli meat. I'm not sure what's in it, but it has the consistency of bologna. The sliced, pinkish kind that made by Oscar Meyer that went into the bologna sandwiches on white bread that some kids used to eat.

Don't get me wrong, there are lots of German meats and sausages that I love (such as my beloved Wisconsin brat). My favorite German snack of all as a kid was Landjaeger. I had sort of forgotten about it until recently because I haven't eaten it in years. Just today I saw Ms. Mac's post which mentioned Landjaeger and I was reminded of how happy I am to have found a good Landjaeger recently at my new favorite store across the border in Germany. Landjaeger is a cold, smoked sausage stick. I guess it originally was popular with hunters and outdoorsmen because they could carry it around with them in the woods since it's smoked. I was trying to describe it to someone the other day and she asked me "Is it sort of like a Slim Jim?" Remember those? I guess it's sort of like that, but oh, so much better. These are the kinds of things I will miss when we go back to living in the States...

Taste of home

While there are a few foods I crave from the States--the occasional cheeseburger or quesadilla or bagel, for instance--by and large I don't have many complaints about eating here. I generally avoid the few American chains--I've never eaten at a McDonalds in Europe, and the only time I go to Starbucks is if I need coffee beans or if nothing else is open (it doesn't help that a latte costs around $5). But I recently discovered something I had been craving without realising it: good ice cream. Unlike Italy, which is worth a trip just for the gelato, the ice cream in Switzerland is pretty mediocre (Mövenpick charges an arm and a leg so you might think it would be good, but it's nothing special). So imagine my surprise when Gretchen came home a few weeks ago with a pint of Ben & Jerry's ice cream! I had been seriously jonesing for some Chocolate Fudge Brownie (which, thankfully, is among their Top Ten flavors and so hopefully won't end up in the Flavor Graveyard anytime soon) but didn't know it. Now I've discovered that there's a shop in the train station that sells individual-sized containers of Ben & Jerry's with a little spoon inside. It's still not quite as good as a trip to Italy for gelato, but it certainly does the trick.

Tuesday, June 14, 2005

My idea of fun

There's nothing like arriving home on the train from Frankfurt at 8:00pm in a torrential downpour, only to have to re-pack my bag before going to bed so I can fly to Brussels tomorrow afternoon. Tonight is just the third night out of the past sixteen that I'll spend in my own bed. I'm not sure who's more bothered by that, Gretchen or I. Or me. (I can never keep the I/me thing straight.)

Back from the vet

This morning I took Grady to the vet to get x-rays taken of his bad leg. I'm relieved that they found what is causing the problem and there's something they can do about it. I'm not excited, however, about the prospect of my dog needing surgery to fix it. The problem is with his elbow. The vet showed me the x-rays as he tried to explain it, but frankly I'd never seen an x-ray of a dog elbow so how was I supposed to know what I was looking at? It's something like elbow dysplasia, which is supposedly common in big dogs like labs. It probably happened when he was a puppy and growing quickly, and now there's a tiny fragment of bone that's just floating around in the knee causing pain. That's my non-medical explanation. The most amazing thing is that the vet is recommending an arthroscopic procedure which is obviously much less invasive than regular surgery. I appreciate that the vet was up front with me and said that he doesn't have enough experience to perform the surgery. Instead he's recommending vet in Zurich. I can only imagine the cost of taking my dog to a specialist in Zurich for arthroscopic surgery. But considering he really hasn't had any medical problems until now, and considering that it's generally a fixable problem, I'm all for it.

As an added bonus, while they had Grady under sedation they cleaned his teeth. We'd never done that, and I know you're supposed to, but we haven't. Hopefully now he'll have fresh breath.

Breaking news

I'm a news junkie. That means that I'm not ashamed to admit that I stayed up late last night to watch the verdict in the Michael Jackson case. I really don't care about the case, in fact I've bene incredibly annoyed that it gets any coverage on CNN International. I thought I had escaped the world of overplayed news about American superstars. I've heard the pundits say several times that he's actually more popular in other parts of the world than in the US, which I guess is why they keep talking about it on my favorite German radio station today as well. Don't get me wrong, as a young teenager I was, like all other 8th graders at the time, crazy about Michael Jackson. This was back in the days of Thriller. I even had a poster of him on my wall. And my friends and I used to spend Friday nights watching "The Making of Thriller" video so that we could try to replicate his dance moves. All that being said, there's no doubt that he has become a very weird man. Doesn't that always happen with child stars? How many of them have gone off the deep end?

I was just about ready to turn off the TV last night when they broke in with "Breaking News"... and this time it wasn't about another car bomb in Iraq (although I'm sure that was also happening). Anything with the headline "Breaking News" sucks me in. For the next couple hours, I kept the TV on and listend to Wolf Blitzer's outrageous coverage. First, they had the aerial shots of the Neverland Ranch. The commentary went something like this. "Doesn't he need to leave the ranch soon in order to make it to the courthouse within the hour deadline set by the judge? Exactly how long is the drive to the courthouse? Isn't it 30 miles? That means he needs to leave within the next 10 minutes to make it there on time. Any minute now the gates should open and his vehicles will come driving through. It could be the last time he ever leaves the Neverland Ranch."

Next they had the aerial OJ Simpson-esque shots tracking the 4 black SUVs as they were driving to the courthouse. "Does anyone know if that white car in the lead is part of the convoy or is it just someone driving down the road who is now caught up in the motorcade? Or perhaps is it the papparazzi? Here they are now, getting caught in a little traffic, waiting to make a right turn at this intersection..." Please, I see them turning, why do you need to comment on it??

And so it went. Of course he didn't make it to the courthouse within the hour deadline set by the judge, and the judge kept changing the time that the verdict would be read, extending the time that I sat for absolutely no good reason in front of the TV. It's just a strange obsession I have. I hate to miss a good news story as it happens. I'm sure you all think I'm crazy. Kirk included.

Monday, June 13, 2005

G and Me

We're having a thunderstorm right now. Grady doesn't like thunderstorms, which means I don't like them either. He likes to bark every time he hears thunder, and then I continuously bribe him to stay quiet and relaxed by giving him peanut butter in his kong. It's like his pacifier. On normal days, he gets only one peanut butter kong a day-- in the morning, right after our morning walk. But I also use it (too much) to bribe him from time to time. Perhaps you don't know what a kong is, but if you're a dog owner you certainly have one. We had our first thunderstorm of the year last night about 1:00 AM. Then we had our second one about an hour ago. Thunder and lightening and pouring rain. Then the sun came out for a few minutes and I opened all the windows in the house. Now we're having more thunder and lightening and the rain is pouring down so hard that it sounds like hail. I think this is a good night to settle in on the couch with Gray and watch a movie.

My broken dryer

Our dryer broke last night. It just stopped, mid-load, after having been used for about 10 hours (with a few breaks while I was out in the afternoon-- I never like to leave the dryer running when I leave the house for fear of fire). Calling the repairman and scheduling a time to get something around the house fixed is enough of a pain at home, where I speak the language and know who to call, but facing this task in Switzerland always gets me frazzled. It's one of those things I really hate dealing with in another language. Right now I'm waiting for my landlord to come home so I can ask her who I should call to get it fixed. Then I will call the repair people (presumably once the lunch "hour" is over after 2:00) and say "Unser Trockener ist kaputt." That much I can say. Actually, I can say a lot more than that, but talking on the phone in a foreign language is always much more difficult than in person. I guess because you can't use body language. It's a rainy afternoon and it would have been a perfect day to do laundry, but I guess it'll have to wait until later in the week to finish. Have we ever written about the incredibly annoying laundry process here in Switzerland? Perhaps I'll save that for another posting. I know that I really shouldn't complain, considering we have our very own machines in our basement so we don't have to worry about signing up for "laundry day" like so many others do in Switzerland, but still... I can find plenty to complain about when it comes to the Swiss way of doing laundry. In short, it takes FOREVER!!

Sunday, June 12, 2005

On the road to America

That is the name of the new McDonald's promotion in Switzerland. I've just started to notice their new billboards around town promoting this special, so I had to go online to read all about it. One of the billboards says "Wild, wild esst!" (I suppose esst comes from the verb essen, or to eat, in German). Another sign says something like "Kau, boy, kau, girl" (I think kau comes from kauen, which is to chew). Very clever, huh? Over the next several weeks they will be offering 3 new burgers, presumably which are supposed to be "American" burgers. My question is-- aren't all burgers inherently American? Anyway, the special burgers are as follows: Texas BBQ, Spicy Mex, and Canada 'N Cheese. I'm sure the Mexicans and Canadians will be pleased to know they are considered part of America for the purposes of McDonald's burger promotions in Switzerland. When I mentioned this to Kirk, always the wise guy, he said "Well, maybe they mean North America". You may recall that earlier this year McDonald's was advertising special Swiss burgers, including the "Fondue Extra" and the "Rösti Special". I seem to recall that The Big Finn may have tried them, and I'm hoping he'll check out the new American burgers for me and report back. I don't expect to try them myself.

Gifts for the queen

When we still lived in Washington, Kirk always brought me presents from his world travels. Nothing big, but always something I loved-- a unique necklace or bracelet, a special candle, a little box (I love little boxes made of all sorts of things), etc. He's always been so good at picking out gifts for me. Since moving to Basel, the gifts have dwindled, and for good reason. Sometimes I travel with him (which is the best gift of all), and other times he goes on really short trips (like to Frankfurt for a day or two) where he's learned that it's really not necessary to go shopping for me. Imagine my surprise, then, when he came home Friday night from Hong Kong and Tokyo bearing gifts! He got me a couple things from Kappabashidori in Tokyo (the street that sells all the restaurant stuff) which I love-- a cool dish and a little ceramic vase. But best of all, he got me an iPod Shuffle! It's so cute. It's no bigger than a pack of gum (like Juicy Fruit) and holds just 120 songs. I already have an iPod (the regular one), but he thought it would be nice if I had a little one to wear around my neck when I'm at the gym. It's perfect! It'll be especially good for the gym because I usually listen to the same 10 or so CDs while I'm there, so I can just load them all onto my iPod Shuffle for a perfect work-out mix. What did I do to deserve this?!

Kate

I learned yesterday that another beautiful soul has gone to heaven. Kate was a hospice nurse in Madison that we met last summer during my Mom's final months of life. She was a very special person that will always have a place in my heart. Although we met her only a couple times, she was with us the night my Mom died, and having her there with us is something I will always remember. Like all the people we met through hospice, she was an amazing person with a true gift for caring for others. Now, just a few months after being diagnosed with cancer, she died with her colleagues at hospice as her end-of-life caregivers. How ironic it is to me that someone who gives her life to help others deal with the challenges of living and dying was herself vulnerable to such an early death. While on the topic, let me just do a bit of a commercial for hospice. If you're ever looking for a worthy organization to support, please consider the hospice center in your local area. I can't even begin to tell you how important their support was to our family last summer. Even now, a year after we were first introduced to our nurse Sheryl, she remains an important friend in my life. I found this article written last year by Kate about her experience as a hospice nurse. It really captures the dedication and passion that she had for her work.

Kirschen und Erdbeeren

Would it be wrong to eat just cherries and strawberries for dinner? Kirk is out of town, so I won't be cooking, and I now have in my possession very fresh cherries and strawberries that are so delicious that they almost taste fake. Ironically, they're probably the most natural, freshest fruit I've ever eaten considering they were grown in Switzerland and just picked today! 'Tis the season for both of these yummy fruits in Basel. Kirk had told me about it last year, but I unfortunately missed it because I was in Wisconsin for the summer. This afternoon, I drove just a couple miles out of town and found many farms along the side of the road with signs saying "Frische Kirschen", meaning fresh cherries. I bought a carton of them (1 kg for 6 CHF), and couldn't stop eating them as I drove home! Then I walked up to the field near our house where they have a pick-your-own strawberries market going on every day. It was so busy, and it's late in the day on a Sunday so I thought there might not be many berries left, but there were still tons of good ones, not to mention still plenty of green ones which means I'll be able to go back later in the week for more! Here's a picture of the strawberry field up the street from our house.



Saturday, June 11, 2005

Queen of the grill

One thing I learned quickly is that when you marry a woman from Wisconsin whose father thought a blizzard was perfect weather for cooking outdoors, you have to check your ego at the door when it comes to grilling. So I no longer take it as an affront to my manhood that she does the grilling in our household (then again, since I just bought a European man-purse I guess you have to consider the source). She was at her Midwestern best tonight as she grilled up a bunch of beef and chicken and we had our first summer meal outdoors. Good food, fresh air, a bottle of wine--I'm so spoiled...

There's no place like home

As much as I had some fun experiences and great food on my trip to Hong Kong and Tokyo, the reality is: (a) most of the time I was working, not playing (despite what my blog entries might have implied); (b) I'm a better traveler when I'm with Gretchen; (c) long flights and jet lag suck; and (d) as I was leaving Tokyo a typhoon was approaching and the rain had already started. So it's great to be home, even if I'll be here less than 48 hours before hopping on a train to Frankfurt on Sunday. And Gretchen is a rock star for driving to Zurich in rush hour traffic to pick me up last night (yes, rush hour traffic in Switzerland...it took almost twice as long as usual to get to/from Basel because there was so much traffic--who knew?).

Friday, June 10, 2005

I can't see

I'm not sure how I'm even able to write this right now. My eyes are such a disaster. I just got back from visiting the Augenarzt (opthamologist) and my pupils feel like they're as big as pizzas. I had originally seen the doctor 2 weeks ago when I was right in the midst of suffering from eyes of fire. Side note-- although my allergies are still lingering in my sinuses, I'm happy to report that my eyes are better and I've even been able to wear my contacts most of this week. Today I went back to the Augenarzt as a follow-up. He said he wanted to check my retina and all other parts of my eye to be sure the allergies didn't cause any damage. What I didn't realize was that he was going to dilate my pupils. I haven't had that done in years, and I totally forgot how messed up it makes you feel! I had planned to stop by Coop to do my weekend shopping after my doctor's appointment (his office is just a block down the street from my local Coop) and I wonder how many people were looking at me funny in the store as I struggled to read the packages of things I was buying. I'd hold something up to make sure I was buying the right thing and I couldn't even focus. Walking home from the tram stop in bright sunshine was even worse. I've walked the route so many times that I could probably walk it with my eyes closed, which is sort of what I did. I'm surprised I didn't run into anything! I just hope they clear up within the next hour so I'm able to drive to the airport to pick up Kirk. The good news is that my eyes look healthy and I shouldn't need another exam for a couple years. I'm so glad that's over!

The big day

I'm very happy to be able to say that my boy is coming home tonight! I often call him my boy, because that's how my Mom used to refer to him. She would say things like "How's your boy?" or "When is that Kirk boy coming home?" (when he was traveling). I love my boy and am excited to see him tonight. It's amazing how quickly the days have gone since he left. Of course I'd always prefer that we're together rather than apart, but frankly the 12 days in Basel without him were busy, low-stress (most days are low-stress for me), and dare I say it, even fun. I got myself into a different routine, and found that I actually quite enjoyed not having to cook a real dinner each night! I think one of the ways that I've changed since moving to Basel is that I have a new-found appreciation for spending time on my own. I have lots of friends here that I get together with from time to time, but I also really enjoy being able to set my own schedule and do what I want when I want. There's no doubt adjusting back to a "reality" schedule of Washington will be a bit of a challenge for me next year. So anyway, back to the subject at hand. I look forward to seeing Kirk tonight, to hearing more about his adventures in eating from Hong Kong and Tokyo, and to spending at least one day with him before he takes off for Frankfurt and Brussels on Sunday. I still have another week of bachelorette life ahead of me!

Thursday, June 09, 2005

Rigi!

We had a great day in Rigi. After much deliberation yesterday over whether we should drive or take the train, I decided to drive. I almost regret that decision this morning after getting stuck in mega-Stau (that's traffic in German) on the way down there. Normally, I wouldn't care how long it took, because we were just going hiking so what's the hurry. But I had timed it perfectly in order to catch the 10:10 train up from Arth-Goldau to Rigi-Kulm. The train runs only once an hour, and it takes 35 minutes to ride to the top of Rigi-Kulm, so you can imagine how long it would take to hike it! As I was exiting the freeway at 10:09 we realized we would miss the train, but said, let's just park anyway, maybe the schedule online was wrong (as if...), and we can catch another one. Just as we parked the car, Marlis mentioned that she saw the train chugging our way-- literally, because it's a cog wheel train. Turns out we ended up parking somewhere other than where I had planned, and the train stopped at this stop at 10:12 rather than 10:10, and we could buy the tickets on the train, so we made it! Phew. That set a good tone for the day.

After reaching the top of Rigi-Kulm, we hiked for about 3 hours over to Rigi-Scheidegg, stopping along the way to ooh and aah about the views, talk to many cows, and eat a good sausage-and-beer lunch (standard mountain fare). From Rigi-Scheidegg, we took a cable car back down to the parking lot. All of this and I was still home by 6:00! I definitely have to do more of these day trips over the next few months. It was absolutely one of those this-is-why-I-love-living-in-Switzerland days!

Here I am at the top of Rigi-Kulm. You'll notice I'm wearing a fleece. Yes, it's June 9 (happy birthday, Dave!), but it was COLD up there. And very windy. I easily could've used a hat and gloves most of the day. Don't be fooled by the lack of snow.





I like this picture because it's very typical of the scene throughout our hike. Whereas someplace like Pilatus has much more spectacular snowy mountain views, hiking on Rigi feels very different because you're walking through lush, green, rolling hills and past actual working farms.





And now for a few cow pictures. I don't know what it is that makes me love Swiss cows so much. Maybe it's their bells. Often the only sound you could hear while hiking (other than Marlis and me talking the whole time) were cow bells in the distance coming from every direction. You'd think I wouldn't care about cows because I'm from Wisconsin and there are cows everywhere there. But there's something really unique about hiking through the alps and mingling with the Swiss cows. Here I am, loving the cows.





I think this will be my new favorite picture of Switzerland. It captures it perfectly. Look at that cow bell!



Wednesday, June 08, 2005

My new resolution

Tomorrow my friend Marlis and I are going on an excursion to the mountains. We are going to drive out to Rigi and do some hiking. Rigi is one of the very popular (and touristy) mountain areas, and it's only just over an hour drive from Basel (plus a 30 minute ride up the mountain on a cog wheel train). Yet I've never been there. I have recently resolved to start doing more day-trips and excursions. It's so easy to get caught up in my daily routine (believe it or not, I do have one, even without having a job). I go to German class, I go to the gym, I walk Grady, I do the shopping, I cook dinner, I am a hausfrau extraordinaire, blah blah blah... and all of a sudden we're only here another 8 months and I feel like I am going to kick myself a year from now when I think about how I should have spent more time getting out there to explore. It's not like I just sit at home all day-- in fact I've never done that -- but the truth is that there are endless opportunities at my fingertips and I'm not taking advantage of even half of them.

Röntgen

Röntgen is my new German word of the week. It means X-ray. I've had two situations within the past week where my new German word has been used, and fortunately neither of them having anything to do with me and my body. Last week, I took my landlord/upstairs neighbor to the doctor for röntgen because she tripped and fell as she walked into her kitchen from her terrace. As it turns out, she broke her foot in two places and is now wearing a cast.

Last night, I took Grady to the vet because he's been limping for months now and it never seems to get better, despite the very expensive joint medication that the vet prescribed. I know that I should've taken him back to the vet earlier, but I'm in complete denial that something might actually be wrong. I keep thinking it'll get better on it's own. The final straw came on Monday night when my teenage neighbor asked me in German what is wrong with my dog's leg. Grady was not even with me at the time. I realized that it must be bad if my neighbors have noticed, and then I felt really guilty. Even after last night's appointment, the vet still can't figure out what's wrong, but he gave Grady some painkillers/anti-inflammatory pills and asked that I bring him back next week for röntgen. Here's the part I really don't like. They need to sedate him in order to take x-rays, so they have to give him a shot to make him sleepy and then I pick him up a few hours later. For some reason that scares me. I know I'm being totally irrational, but I'm so paranoid about something going wrong. I just hate the fact that he is getting older and we are having to face potential upcoming health problems. He is 9 years old, after all. Realistically, but I should really be concerned about is that the fact that he has to go to the vet for x-rays with a completely empty stomach. If you know anything about labs, you know that skipping a meal means he will be beside himself and driving me completely mad!

Tuesday, June 07, 2005

The Time Traveler's Wife

At long last, our book club discussed The Time Traveler's Wife last night. It's always so interesting to hear all the different reactions to a book. In general, there was a consensus that it's a good book. But there were also the extremes. One woman said "I absolutely hated this book. I can't remember a time where I had such strong feelings about a book I didn't like. I couldn't even finish it." Another woman was practically bursting out of her chair saying "I loved loved LOVED this book!", etc. Personally, I would say I had a love-hate relationship with the book. Normally, I have a hard time suspending disbelief (Kirk's way of describing it) when it comes to books or movies that are so unrealistic that they're not even believable. Obviously, this book fit into that category considering it's about a man who "time travels". That was the hate part. Yet I got totally wrapped up in the story, loved the characters and had to know what was going to happen to them next, and was also amazed at the author's creativity. That was the love part. The whole time I was reading it I found myself saying that I can't believe I'm enjoying this book becuase it's so ridiculous and unreal. Yet I couldn't put it down! I definitely recommend it to those of you who haven't read it yet. Our next book club meeting won't be until September. Like everything else in Basel, we're taking off the summer for holidays. In September, we'll be discussing Small Island by Andrea Levy. Has anyone else read it?

Head of shrimp, spine of eel

That may sound like a witches brew of some sort, but no, it was just part of my great tempura meal last night. The restaurant only seated eight people, all at the counter. Everything was cooked by the chef right there in front of us, piece by piece. Most of what we ate was fairly routine--vegetables, fish, etc. Then at one point he put four live shrimp on his cutting board. They were still wiggling and hopping when he deftly cut off their heads and peeled them. Without realising what would happen next, he put two delicately battered and fried shrimp heads in front of Jun and I. And it was good! (I sort of figured it was like eating a soft-shell crab.) (We later ate the rest of the shrimp as well.) Then, the pièce de résistance. He got out a live eel, and since it was doing quite a bit of wiggling, he basically nailed down one end and quickly cleaned and filleted it. It was really good, but then I don't really mind eel (it just tastes like fish). After finishing the eel he presented us with a long, thin, crunchy piece of something that ended up being the spine from the eel. Again, I just kept thinking of soft-shell crabs, especially since I don't generally like bones in things. And once again, I have to say it was quite good--it mostly just tasted like crunchy, salted batter. (Unlike the uni, or sea urchin roe, which I tried when I had sushi the other night and am in no hurry to try again.) So while I'll be the first to admit I'm not the most adventurous eater, after this trip I think I deserve to be cut some slack. This is our meal and a really dorky picture of Jun and I in front of the restaurant.


Monday, June 06, 2005

Doing my part

You know, Americans abroad don't exactly have a good image these days. You can blame it on blindly aggressive foreign policy during the Bush years, or you can blame it on our general loudness, lack of capacity with foreign languages, etc. But the fact remains, these days when someone asks where I'm from, "Canada" doesn't sound so bad. (For the record, I've never actually gone so far as to deny my citizenship. Yet.) Anyway, the past 48 hours in Tokyo I've tried my best to improve the American image by:

  • Using the women's bathroom at lunch today (which I didn't find out until the woman whose stall I had initially and unsuccessfully tried to open came out to wash her hands--sumimasen!).

  • Entering a department store dressing room with my shoes on, much to the apparent horror of the saleswoman who was helping me. (I suppose I should have known better, but I guess it was a little counterintuitive to take off my shoes in order to try on a shirt.)

  • Saying "domo", "arigato", or "domo arigato" 2,347 times. (This funny description of how English speakers use common Japanese phrases sounds pretty much exactly how I've used them.)

  • Sneezing loudly and startling an older couple walking ahead of me on a side street in Akasaka, causing the woman to turn around and look at me as if I was either an axe murderer or a bird flu carrier.

  • When complimenting the sushi chef on a good meal, saying iishio (which I'm not sure is even a word) instead of oishii (which means "delicious").

  • Bumping my head on the straps on the Metro when standing up, then recoiling at the contact in a manner that leads those around me to believe I'm having a seizure. This has happened every single time I've stood up on the Metro. Every. Single. Time.

  • Bowing or nodding 3,721 times, in response to every greeting or query, because why not? It's Japan. Everyone does it.

  • Getting lost in my own hotel. (But it really wasn't my fault--this hotel is enormous, and it isn't exactly intuitive that the ground floor in your building will become the sixth floor in a neighboring building.)

  • As noted yesterday, loudly dropping my umbrella down an escalator, frightening and nearly bruising the ankles of several old folks.


This is why Gretchen loves to travel with me...

Sure beats Benihana

[Note for those who don't get the reference in the title: Benihana is a cheesy Japanese restaurant where they playfully cook the food at your table in a manner that, according to my Japanese colleagues, is not even remotely Japanese. Naturally, it's many Americans' first exposure to Japanese food, and I include myself in that category.]

Continuing my string of recent good food, today for lunch me and my man-purse went to a Japanese restaurant (shocking, I know) in Ginza because they at least had pictures on the menu (probably at least 90% of the restaurants here only have menus in Japanese, so pictures are a huge help). It ended up being one of those multi-course meals (they call it kaiseki) with tons of tiny, beautifully presented courses. Most of the courses I truly had no idea what I was eating, although if I could narrow it down to fish or vegetable I figured I was doing OK. It started with a broth that had noodles and fish, along with tofu with a dollop of wasabi soaking in a sweet sauce (top left). Then they brought three stacked boxes that included all manner of interesting vegetables, grilled fish and sushi (top right). Then a soup with barley and seaweed, an assortment of vinegared vegetables, and tea (bottom left). Finally, ice cream and more tea (bottom right) (it was Japanese green tea, which unlike most green teas is supposed to have outrageous amounts of caffeine...I'll find out whether or not that's true tonight when I try to get to sleep). Now I have to hope I get my appetite back in time to meet my friend Jun at a tempura restaurant tonight...


Sunday, June 05, 2005

In the neighborhood

What do you see when you go for an evening bike ride? This is what I see:



How to make your aunt happy

On Thursday night, while my niece Natalie was out for dinner with her family celebrating her 9th birthday (in Milwaukee), she and her Dad had a conversation that went something like this:

Natalie: "Dad, can I have a milkshake?"
Dad: "Yes, Natalie, it's your birthday so you can have anything you want."
Natalie: "Good. Then can I go to Switzerland?"

Schengen: Ja!

The votes have been counted, and much to my surprise, Swiss voters approved both referendums that were at the polls today. This means that, despite not being a member of the EU, Switzerland will join the EU's passport-free Schengen zone. Of course this won't take place until 2007, and we won't be living here anymore at that point, so I'll continue to have to show my passport when driving into neighboring France or Germany. I'm also pleasantly suprised that Swiss voters approved (by 58 percent) a measure to increase certain rights for same-sex couples. One more surprise-- this is currently posted as the top story on the AP wire! It's not very often that Switzerland generates breaking news, and frankly I think they like it that way.

Goin' Euro

Well, now I've done it. I've finally gone over the edge. Today when I was out walking around, I bought...a travel bag. OK, let's be honest--it's a man-purse (I used to refer to it as a European man-purse, but since everyone in Tokyo seems to have one, it appears to have broader appeal). When we were in Barcelona, Gretchen had seen something like it and suggested that it would be very practical when I'm traveling since I'm always trying to carry a bunch of stuff and end up either loading my pockets or having to carry a clunky backpack. But no, I insisted, I wasn't about to buy a freakin' man-purse! (Of course, she was self-interested because when we travel together, I end up giving her a bunch of stuff to carry around in her purse.) So today I was trying to haul around a guidebook, a language translator, an umbrella (which I at one point dropped down the escalator at a department store, nearly hitting a bunch of old people who initially looked horrified but then smiled when they realised it was just a clumsy gaijin...at least I said I was sorry). So when I was shopping in Shibuya and saw a man-purse of the sort Gretchen wanted me to get, I broke down and bought it (really, it's much more like a cross between a backpack and a fanny pack). And you know what? Hauling my crap around the rest of the day was much more convenient, even if I had to carry a man-purse to do it. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

Just for Gretchen

There are so many funny signs everywhere here, but I knew Gretchen would especially like this one where the Sesame Street characters encourage people on the Metro to roll up their umbrellas to help keep their fellow riders dry:

Shibuya

There is a massive intersection in front of the train station in Shibuya (one of the neighborhoods featured prominently in Lost in Translation) that somehow stays orderly in a way that only the Japanese (or perhaps the Swiss, if they had that many people) could manage. Traffic flows relatively smoothly through a tangle of wide streets, and pedestrians wouldn't dare try to cross. Then all traffic stops and hundreds of pedestrians cross simulataneously from every direction. Then it starts all over again. It's supposed to be amazing to watch from above, but the best I could do is a before and after shot from the curb:

Harajuku again

Last time we were in Tokyo, Gretchen really enjoyed the Harajuku area (and not just because of the Gwen Stefani connection). I visited but it was cold and damp and I was preoccupied with work, so I decided to go back today when the weather was nicer and I had a little more time. It's sort of Japanese Teenage Fashion Central, with the big drawing point being the so-called "Harajuku girls", who wear outlandish outfits and seem to thoroughly enjoy the attention they get for doing so. I at least tried to be subtle about taking a few pictures:

Dude, you're so cool

I'm hardly qualified to be an arbiter of cool, but my award for dork of the weekend was the kid going through customs at Tokyo Narita airport while wearing bath slippers from the Peninsula Hong Kong (as if to say "my parents have more money than your parents!") and a Chinese straw hat (as if to say "aren't I cool that I can slum it like this?"). I dunno, maybe I was just cranky from being stuck in the immigration line for 45 minutes...and yes, I realise that's unfortunately nothing compared to the long lines for most non-citizens to get into the States these days.

Hong Kong

Although I didn't see much in Hong Kong beyond the inside of my hotel room and the meeting room, I still had to eat. And eat I did! In a few days I managed to eat good dim sum, Vietnamese, Nepalese, funky modern Sichuan, and Thai. Yum! The one thing I realised is that probably my least favorite food in that part of the world is...Chinese. The thing is, unlike the sanitised Chinese cuisine we're used to back home, in Hong Kong (and presumably the rest of China) they're not wasteful and use as much of the animal as possible. So if you order chicken and are expecting a skinless, boneless chicken breast...HA! Skin, bones, cartilage, you name it, it's there on your plate. I've just realised it's not my thing, and I'll be the first to admit I'm picky as far as that goes.

My last night there I finally managed to get out and took the ferry over to Kowloon. Despite the NASTY humidity (like DC in summer, but doubled), I got a nice view of what has to be one of the most distinctive skylines in the world (yeah, I know the picture is blurry...I was probably sweating all over the lens).

Happy election day

I just realized that today is a voting day in Switzerland. Is the US the only place that doesn't hold elections on Sundays? It's especially weird to me that everything is closed on Sundays in Switzerland, yet they vote on Sundays. I guess nobody has any excuse to skip voting because there's nothing else to do on Sundays. Anyway, as Kirk had posted before, there are a couple interesting referendums on the ballot today, including Schengen (has to do with opening the borders) and domestic partnership initiatives. Personally, I will miss seeing the billboards and signs and flyers throughout the city for these two referendums. Both have had very clever ad campaigns.

What a nightmare

For someone like me who has a fear of tunnels, this is my absolute worst nightmare. Switzerland has LOTS of tunnels through all the mountains and hills, including the monster St. Gotthard Tunnel, which is apparently the 2nd longest road tunnel in the world at 17 km. We drove through it a couple months ago on the way to Italy. They had a bad fire in the St. Gotthard a few years ago as well. Wouldn't you think there would be a name for the fear of tunnels? I looked at a few websites that listed hundreds of phobias, but couldn't find one for tunnels.

Saturday, June 04, 2005

Anti-Social

Tokyo already has to be one of the safest big cities anywhere, but now I can feel even safer in my hotel. I was browsing the standard guest services information last night (where I learned that it was a good thing I actually brought workout gear, since you have to pay $50/day to use the gym!), and came across the hotel's Rules of Conduct, which includes a section on Criminal Organizations and Threats to Public Safety:
(1) Criminal organizations and their members as specified in the Restrictions on Prevention of Unreasonable Behavior by Gangsters (enforced on March 1, 1992) will not be accepted as guests by the Hotel. (Guests who are discovered after having made a reservation to belong to a criminal organization shall be refused the services of the Hotel as of the time of such discovery.)
(2) Anti-Social organizations and their members (i.e., gangs, radical groups and their members) will not be accepted as guests by the Hotel. Guests who are discovered after having made a reservation to belong to a criminal organization shall be refused the services of the Hotel as of the time of such discovery.
(3) If violence, threats, blackmail, coercion or similar behavior is reported, we will immediately request any person exhibiting or responsible for such behavior to leave the Hotel. Also, any person who exhibited or was responsible for such behavior in the past will not be accepted as a guest of the Hotel.
(4) We ask anyone who is behaving in an extremely irresponsible manner (e.g., a mentally incompetent person who is not in control of his/her actions or a person with diminished capacity caused by drugs) to leave the Hotel at once, if we believe that person may endanger, annoy or disturb guests and visitors.
(5) Do not annoy other guests by making loud noises (including speeches and public address) in your room. Do not gamble and do not commit any offense against public decency or public order.

I don't seem to remember reading anything like this when I've stayed at a run-of-the-mill Holiday Inn back home. Come to think of it, I haven't seen anything like this in Switzerland either, but that's probably because you could substitute "Country" for "Hotel" and it would pretty much describe the conditions for living there...

The price of living in Switzerland

Here's a good example of how expensive Switzerland is. This afternoon, I bought some contact solution during my afternoon shopping trip to Germany (my third trip to Lörrach in one week!). I paid 9.70 Euro for the solution. A few months ago, I bought an identical bottle of solution in Basel for 24.80 CHF (Swiss francs). Let's compare. Based on today's exchange rate, I paid the equivalent of $19.72 for contact solution in Switzerland, and only $11.84 for the exact same product in Germany! That means it's definitely worth the short drive across the border.

What was he thinking?

My apologies if this story grosses you out, but it has to be told. When I got up this morning, I noticed a pile of small rocks on the rug in our dining room. They were the kind of gravel-like stones that are in part of our backyard/garden. The area surrounding the rock pile looked suspicious as well. Kind of like how it looks if Grady has thrown up and then eaten it back up (why do dogs do that?). Sure enough, this afternoon while walking Grady I saw more evidence of rock-eating when I used my Basel Stadt-provided dog poop bags. When unchaperoned, Grady has been known to eat cat poop in our backyard. I'm not sure what's worse, rocks or cat poop. While I was watering the garden yesterday there were several minutes where Grady was not within my sight, and once I saw him again I noticed he was digging around in this very rocky part of the yard right near the driveway. My guess is that the neighborhood cats have been using the rocks as their litter box and Grady was having a feast. From his perspective, there was no time to discriminate against the rocks-- knowing it was only a matter of time before I caught him-- so he must have just eaten it all. Oh, the joys of having a lab.

Tastes like chicken

I need to catch up on some posting now that I've moved on from Hong Kong to Tokyo and hope to actually make at least a partial weekend of it.

Last time we came to Tokyo, our friend Spahr said something about trying chicken sushi. I couldn't imagine anything less appealing. So tonight I went to a nearby sushi restaurant and ordered a set assortment of sushi...and I swear two of the pieces were actually chicken. It had been put on a grill just long enough to impart a slight yummy grilled taste, but make no mistake, it was uncooked. Against my better wishes, I ate both pieces. And it was delicious. (We'll see if I'm saying the same thing tomorrow morning...)