US Travels

Now that it's almost two months past, perhaps it's time to post about my trip to the US? After only a month in Switzerland, I took off back for the US for about three weeks - to Seattle, the Bay Area, Raleigh, and Orlando. On this trip, I got to see lots of friends, my family, attend three fan-tas-tic weddings, and stock up on all the America-things that I learned I couldn't find easily in Schweiz. Brian joined me for the last wedding in Orlando, since he was a kickin' groomsmen.

In Seattle, I attended both Athena's & Brent's wedding and Sarah's and Jesse's wedding, both of which were in Woodinville, north of Seattle. Despite my jetlag, I had a great time dancing at Athena and Brent's wedding...



...and then next week at Sarah and Jesse's!



In addition, I got to hang out with lots of my Seattle friends and did such exciting things as a taco truck crawl through South Seattle with Ethan, Micah, and Leslie (and others) and attending the bachelorette party of the lovely Sarah. Thanks to Kristen and CC for letting me crash at their places while I was in Seattle! I enjoyed eating the jam that I had left in your apartments when we moved in July.

After Seattle, I headed down to the Bay Area to hang out with my California-formerly-North-Carolina-friends. Melanie was a lovely hostess and took me around to fun things! On Thursday, I got a tour of Meebo from Mark, followed by a delicious dinner with the South Bay people. Friday, Melanie and I drove up to Hog Island Oyster Farm near Reyes Point and ate tons of oysters by the sea. Next time, we will bring a lovely picnic and just buy oysters there, but they had great food, too! Saturday, after a trip to the Farmer's Market, Melanie and Emily and I drove to Harley Goat Farm and took a little tour, petted some goats and llamas, wore some hot hair nets, and then ate a ton of goat cheese. After frolicking on the beach with Toro, we headed back to the Bay Area for dinner with Tara and Arun! On Sunday, Melanie and I drove to Oakland and hung out with Ben, Rebecca, Wendy, and John... and ate lots of things. Eating, by the way, was the theme of my American tour.



This all before I took a lovely September-11-red-eye-in-first-class-flight to... Raleigh! This (USAir) first class flight was my first and seemed worth the Star Alliance airline miles I used on it, if only for the blanket (that I stole). While in Raleigh, I did mostly nothing, but did have a lovely meal with Rachel, Mike, Lora, and Marc, and hung out with my parents and the various pets. From there to...

Orlando! Chethan and Tara got married in mid-September at the Orlando Science Museum by the water. After three long weeks, I finally saw Brian, who came to Orlando as a groomsman. The whole weekend was great - saw lots of people, enjoyed the humidity (that was maybe just me), swam in the hotel pool, ate great food (including: Bojangles), and got down on the dance floor.



From there, Brian and I headed back to Zurich, where fall had arrived while I was away.

Third Anniversary!

We have hit a little blogging lull - I am on a three week tour of the US (Seattle, Bay Area, Raleigh, Orlando) and Brian is in Zurich, working hard. We'll be meeting up on Thursday in Orlando for a wedding, but today is our third anniversary! Last year, we were apart as well - Brian was in Vienna for a conference and then for some vacation with his parents, and I was working hard. This was also about the time that Brian mentioned the slim possibility of working in Zurich and about the time that I dug up my first "how to move to Switzerland" document. And now look at us, all Swiss-like... except for the American shirts.

Andermatt / Gemsstock

Another weekend, another Swiss adventure for team Ferris-Wheeless. I'm sure you are getting sick of our jet-setting ways, but remember: no jets yet, just lots and lots of trains. In fact, we rode four different trains on our way to today's destination: Andermatt and Gemsstock.

Andermatt is a small town in southern Switzerland right in the heart of the Alps. It doesn't get as much traffic these days after the Gotthard rail and car tunnels (some of the longest in the world) bypassed it under the Alps. However, it's a good jumping off point to Gemsstock, a 2961m peak that has a handy gondola ride straight to the top. That's a good thing, since hiking to the top would probably kill us. Just walking around at the summit was enough to give me a headache. And this isn't even one of the tallest peaks in the Swiss Alps (that'd be Monte Rosa at 4634m!).

After taking some great photos at the summit, we retreated back down the mountain to the mid-way gondola stop to grab a snack and fool around on the slack line (mostly falling off the slack line, that is). From there, we hiked back down the mountain (way easier than hiking up) and caught our trains back to Zürich. Another successful weekend! Click below to see all our photos from the trip.

Rhine Falls and Schaffhausen

One of the best things about living in Zurich is the easy access to other cities and natural beauty, all by public transport. So far, taking a little day trip on the weekend has required almost no advance planning.

Step 1: Get your transit pass(es). The Sunday before last, Brian and I got our half-fare cards, which give you half off of all public transportation travel within Switzerland, as well as discounts on private transport (e.g., mountain gondolas) and travel to Germany and Austria. In addition, we can get daily and monthly add-ons that provide unlimited travel throughout Switzerland. I also got a 9 o'clock pass, which gives me free rides around Zurich after 9am (Brian has been walking to and from work, so hasn't needed a pass).

Step 2: Figure out where you're going. Last Sunday, this took the form of "it's a nice day, we should go somewhere, or else we'll play on the internet all day" around 10am. So, off we went to Zurich HB, the main train station. We decided on Rhine Falls, about 50 minutes to the north of Zurich. It was just barely within the Zurich transportation network limits, so I just needed to buy an add-on to my pass, while Brian got a day ticket.

Step 3: Profit. Rhine Falls is a total tourist destination, but fun. We rode a train (S-Bahn) to Winterthur, a largish city to the north of Zurich, and then transferred to a train that passed by Rhine Falls. After getting off at the almost non-existent train station, we walked down the hill to the falls.

Rhine Falls is the largest waterfall in mainland Europe, by width. As it was a beautiful Sunday, it was chock full of tourists. There is a walkway from the train station to a platform directly on top of the falls, but we opted for the boat tour, which gets you close enough to the falls for it to splash on you. We also took the boat that lands you on the little rock that lies in the middle of the falls; from there, you can climb to the top and took over the falls.



After our boat ride, Brian and I had some ice cream and walked along the Rhine River for 45 minutes to Schaffhausen. Schaffhausen is a small town to the north of Zurich in a canton (like a state) of the same name. It is dominated by a old fortress, the Munot, which was built in the 16th century. We walked up to the fortress and then up to the top to take in the view of the town.



Step 4: Return to your home. At Schaffhausen, we went to the main train station for the town, grabbed a train back to Winterthur and then back to Zurich HB (there are direct trains to Zurich HB, but it was quicker for us to do the transfer). Once there, we ran the gauntlet of the main station grocery store for some milk (it is one of the few groceries open on Sunday) and then took the tram and bus back to our apartment, just in time to make some dinner.

We plan on using trains, buses, trams, gondolas, cable cars, funiculars, and boats lots more in our future travel around Switzerland. So far, in addition to Rhine Falls, we've been up to Uetliberg and Felsenegg, both hiking and overlook points near Zurich, as well as to Luzern and Mount Pilatus, to the south of Zurich.

Summer!

So far, we've had more thunderstorms while in Switzerland than in all of six years in Seattle. Include humidity and a fair degree of sunshine, and despite claims that this is the coldest and wettest summer in Zurich on record, I still say Zurich has Seattle beat in the Summer Department.

Zurich Summer

Grocery Store Adventures

You move to a new country. At some point, you can't avoid it: you have to go to the grocery store. You must stare at a wide variety of food products and only sort of get what you're looking at. You must interact with your fellow man at the checkout.

Zurich has two main grocery stores: Migros and Coop. They are fairly standard stores, and within themselves, have a range of sizes - from the baby Migrolino and Coop Pronto to the big MMM and Coop City. In addition, there is Denner, which strikes me as a Trader Joe's without the cool products, but with the limited selection, cheap prices, pre-packaged produce, and warm beer. There is also your variety of ethnic stores and little kiosks around town.

While in our temporary apartment, I've limited myself to the large Coop near us, as well as the smaller Migros and the nearby Denner. I've gotten my Migros and Coop store cards - they only provide limited benefit in the way of coupons or other benefits, but they prevent additional question/answer at the end of the checkout line [Them: "Haben eine Supercard?" Me: "Eh? Oh, nein, danke"]

Generally, grocery shopping has taken me about an hour per trip, mostly because I spend a lot of time wandering around lost and staring at things. As you would expect, grocery shopping is different from the US in innumerable ways, but here are the main ones I can think of:

1. Everything is not in English
This is sort of a duh. But when you're wandering around looking for the lemon juice or trying to differentiate between types of beans or rice, you remember it much more fully. In Switzerland, most things are labeled in German, French, and Italian - since I speak only bad French, this has been helpful, as then I can at least get a gist of what I'm buying.

2. You weigh the produce, not the cashier
In the US, you take your produce to the cashier and the cashier weighs it as part of the checkout process. In Switzerland, and in much of Europe, you weigh your produce at a scale, poke the number corresponding to your produce, and stick the given sticker on the bag or fruit/vegetable. We had read about this, but of course, forgot the first time we went to a grocery store for a banana. And were, of course, judged.



3. The produce, for the most part, looks great and is local
Almost all produce I have bought (except lemons and avocados) has been really good quality and from Schweiz - so from pretty close by. I feel like we've been eating a lot of fresh produce - could it be that it's so pretty? Or could it be that I have a lot of time for cooking. Who knows.

4. You're not going to find everything you want
Also maybe a "duh", but there are lots of things that you're expecting to find that are not on the shelves of common grocery stores or are hard to find. For example: skim milk is not a super common item in Switzerland (and Brian drinks a lot). Other things somewhat difficult to find that you (or I) may want: chicken stock (or any kind of stock that's not in bouillon form), peanut butter (such an American thing), American cereals (Cheerios, Crispix, etc.), cheddar cheese (what? in this land of cheese? it's true), most "ethnic" foods (Mexican/Tex-Mex, Asian), brown sugar, anything larger than a small packet of baking soda/baking powder/vanilla, and bulk food bins. On the flip side, there are tons of products I've never heard of and lots of great, cheap cheese. I love cheese!

5. Variety of brands? Not so much.
You want some chickpeas (I always want some chickpeas)? In a typical US grocery store, there are like, at least 5 varieties or brands to choose from on the shelf. In Switzerland, maybe (if you're lucky and there are some at all) two.

6. Things you think you should be refrigerated? They're not.
Milk? Eggs? Mostly on the shelf, rather than in the refrigerated section.



7. Sales are less common
Before coming, I thought sales were totally not-at-all common, but I'm glad to see that sales do happen. They're usually on the perishable items, though, like meat and dairy - you're not going to see sales on canned goods or wine. Also - usually in the US when you buy something in bulk, you get a discount. Not so much in Switzerland. This does keep me from buying anymore of something than I need right now.

8. Empty your cart/basket (it won't empty itself)
You approach the register. You should empty your basket onto the conveyor, rather than just plopping your basket on top. Since most cashier here sit while checking people out, this is more convenient for them. Also, have your cash (preferred) or card ready, as well as your Migros Cumulus or Coop Supercard ready. Checks? Not done in Switzerland. Ever.

9. You bag your groceries
There are no bag boys and I have gotten very good at bagging my own groceries. Perhaps this is why people come for their daily shopping instead of weekly or monthly trips - the chore of bagging one's groceries (and being rushed along) overtakes the chore of going to the grocery store daily.

Oh, you thought I was going to do ten things? I'm not.

So You Want to Move to Switzerland

When Brian first mentioned the slim and distant possibility of a job in Switzerland, I was all over it like cheese on grits. For those who know me, I like to know everything about everything, so I did some research on what's involved with working and living in Switzerland and, more specifically, the experience of being a foreigner living in Switzerland. Here are the various resources I have used, for anyone else considering a move to Switzerland, or just curious.

• My first resource was a PDF document put together by the Swiss government on working and living in Switzerland. My favorite sentence: "...health expenditure is highest worldwide with the exception of the United States." Touché.
• I read a number of blogs of people who moved to Switzerland from other countries (generally the US, but also the UK and Australia). It has been really useful to hear about others' experiences and try to learn from them. Some, such as Swisstory, have ended as the author has moved onto another country, but are still good resources. Others are still active and interesting, including One Big Yodel and TwoFools in Zürich [edit - no longer available, as they moved back to the US!].
• There are a variety of discussion forums and mailing lists geared toward English-speaking expats. I subscribe to the Expats-in-Zurich and Expats-in-Switzerland yahoo mailing lists and there is (very) occasionally something of interest there. I also read and reference English Forum Switzerland often. I've found that almost all of my questions have been asked and answered there at sometime, and if it hasn't been, I can ask and get responses quickly, albeit occasionally snarky (it is the Internet, after all).
• As soon as we decided for sure that we were moving, I plunked down for Living and Working in Switzerland. I read it cover to cover and it's a great reference guide. There's also a book, Zurich for Newcomers - I flipped through it in a bookstore, and it didn't seem to be worth buying. The American Women's Club of Zurich has published a book, Living in Zurich, that sounds pretty comprehensive, but I haven't checked it out yet.
• I also picked up a few guidebooks: A Rough Guide to Switzerland and Rick Steves' Switzerland. Usually, I'm a Lonely Planet fan, but their most recent Swiss guidebook is from 2009 - it'll be updated in 2012. For the other two, I think having both is useful - the Rough Guide gives a lot of context and talks about more places, while the Rick Steves book gets into the specifics of how to actually do something (like go up that there mountain!).
• Finally, we talked to people! Through friends, we met a few people who already live in Zurich. I have also met a number of spouses of Googlers, and it's been great to ask them the dumb questions that come to my head (e.g., "what is that thing sticking to the wall of that building", "how do you pronounce MIGRO and COOP [the two main grocery stores]").

While I don't know everything about everything yet, the above have all been great resources to help get there.