SWITZERLAND!!!: May 2005

May 27 – Kinderfest

There’s a festival going on next to my house. They have this thing once every three years and the whole town takes a holiday. This is one of those things that would never happen in North America. The festival is only one day – today – but I’ve been hearing music for days. People have been driving up and down my driveway (which connects to the field with the festival) in cars and farm equipment and anything that’s loud. My quiet little neighbourhood is overrun by people and cars and dogs and trucks and equipment. I want them all to go away! Hahaha.

It’s so funny, but all the noise and ruckus is bothering me, even though I am gonna go and see what it’s all about. The music is shaking my house. I just got back from being in a computer lab for 9 hours working on a statistics take-home exam. I want it to be quiet and I want to relax. I sound like an old woman, but I don’t care. I’d also like to know why they take weeks to prepare for this event that happens once every 3 years, but then they only have it for ONE day and then they spend weeks taking it down. I think I’m also annoyed that, because of this spontaneous holiday, I have no food. I stole my roommate’s food for breakfast, ate at the university for lunch (first time), and have yet to figure out dinner.

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Ok, I went to the Kinderfest thingie. The only thing of interest that I have to report is that the one of the guys who were BBQing the sausages was named: RICHARD STILLHARD. Haha!!! No joke. And, if you think of "Dick" as another name for "Richard," then... Pfffttt!!! LOL! I took a picture, because he was wearing a nametag, but somehow it got lost. [Edit: I found the picture (obviously)! See below.] It's still freaking funny. Oh, and on the way to the train station the other day, I saw a poster advertising the "BLUE BALLS FESTIVAL". Puahahaha!!!! I have no idea what it's for, I'll try to pay attention next time after I subdue my laughter.

Allow me to introduce a sausage-griller by the name of Richard Stillhard (see nametag). A.k.a. Dick Stillhard. I have no further comments.

May 26 – Tourism class trip to Engelberg

Why don’t we do class trips in Toronto? They are the best way to learn things and see how theory is applied in real life, plus they’re just so much fun! I went on a 2-day trip to Engelberg, Switzerland with my tourism class. Actually, this was one of the reasons that I chose to take this class.

At first, we had mini-lectures from the regional tourism director and the tourism director for Engelberg. This was followed by a (ripoff) lunch at the golf course and a talk from the (arrogant/asshole/idiot/sexist) director of the golf course. We did see a “celebrity” (in Swiss standards): a former soccer coach for the Bayern-Munich team. The TV stations actually sometimes come to the golf course to get clips of him playing. I guess it’s a little bit more than the equivalent of seeing Pat Quinn???

The coolest part of this day was that we got a short golf lesson by a professional golf instructor, who explained a little bit about the clubs and hit a few balls to show us. I’ve actually never seen someone who was really good at golf play in person before and it was really cool. The whole class got to try on the driving range, although I didn’t because I was standing in front of the left-handed pad and I’m 90% sure that I’m right-handed. But now, I really want to go to a driving range in Toronto!

We went for “Tex-Mex” food at night with the whole class. I was really excited that we were going for ethnic food and I had already planned to get enchiladas. I was a little irritated when I found out that the most “Mexican” things that they had were: nachos, fajitas, & quesadillas. The rest of the menu wasn’t even worth mentioning, just regular restaurant fare, like pasta. Bah!!! I’m going to go to Bandidos in Toronto, wear a bejeweled sombrero, eat enchiladas, socialize with the super-friendly Mexican owners, and drink Mexican fruit drinks =P.

Oh, but it still surprises me how many things Europeans in general haven’t experienced when it comes to food. I just think that they’re missing out on so much, but that’s my opinion because I really like to eat different foods and we’re really lucky regarding food in Toronto. Some of them didn’t know what the shredded, orange-coloured pieces were on their plates. Any guesses? If you said “cheddar cheese,” then you’re a winner! I was SO happy to have it at the restaurant, because they don’t have it here in grocery stores. I don’t eat so much cheddar cheese at home, but it’s just something you have to have with certain foods and I’ve missed it.

We stayed at the crappiest hotel in a 10-kilometre radius – maybe even more than that. This “hotel” had been suggested to us by one of the tourism directors as an example of a “problem” hotel that hadn’t reinvested any money in 30 years or something. It’s going to be torn down in a few months, so I’ll bet that we were probably the last guests. All the décor seemed to be out of the 60s – grey, dark, cold, and ugly. I just can’t communicate how ugly it was without pictures, which I didn’t take. It was generally clean, but it looked dirty because everything was so old. No matter how many times you clean a carpet, it’ll look old if it’s old. The shower head was loose. They didn’t provide you with sheets – you had to pay extra if you wanted linen. There was one chair in a room for 4 people. It desperately needed to be reupholstered – to the point where no one wanted to even touch it. The doors on our closet had fallen off or been torn off at some point. And, someone please tell me, what’s the use of sheer curtains? I didn’t sleep so well, for some reason haha

The next day, we had a talk from the CEO of the Engelberg-Titlis Rotair cable car company (www.titlis.ch). We took a special rail car up to Gerschnialp, where we got a technical tour about cable cars and gondolas, which was pretty interesting too. They gave us these rugged scooters to get down the hill on (see pics!) and these were pretty fun hehe. It was my first time even seeing this type of scooter and going “Xtreme downhill scootering” haha!

We went up Brunni (www.brunni.ch), the mountain on the other side of the valley, and had a picnic lunch up top with a great view of the Alps. I really want to go paragliding in Interlaken in a few weeks, and there were paragliders jumping off from everywhere on Brunni. There was also a petting zoo with llamas, which was unexpected haha.

After lunch, everyone expected that we’d have another guest lecture in the restaurant at the top. Instead, we took a chairlift even higher and found mountain climbing equipment set out for us there. Looking around, there was nowhere to climb except up the rocky mountain. I was so scared, but so excited! I ended up being in the second group to go with the mountaineers to climb, so I had a guided hike first. The guide told us about flora and geological features, which was actually pretty intriguing since we were actually there to see it and not reading about it in a textbook. It was so funny how he said, “wery, wery” instead of “very, very” all the time, just like Elmer Fudd!

Finally, it was our turn to go climbing. It was a certain style of climbing called “via ferrata,” if any of you are familiar with these terms. The day before this, I had seen a crazy picture of a bridge made out of wire and strung between two rocks. I said that I really wanted to try it, and I couldn’t believe that I actually got to the next day! The actual climb lasted for about ½ an hour or so, I’m not sure. I’m just estimating because I was really concentrating, so I don’t know how much time passed. It was so amazing. Previously, I’d only gone indoor wall climbing once. This climb wasn’t as difficult as some of the indoor ones, because it was usually not too hard to see where your next move would be, but it was so cool to do it on real rocks and in such awesome surroundings. The scariest part for me was when there were no hand holds at all, and so we had to hang off of the side of a wall with the fixed wire and shuffle our feet across. I was so disappointed when we got to the top because it was over! I really want to try a different climb before I leave!

I also experienced another first today: my first sun burn. I wasn’t expecting to be out in the sun for the whole afternoon at 1800m a.s.l., so I didn’t put on any sunscreen. Even when I don’t wear sunscreen, I can go out all day in the sun in Toronto and not have a problem. I guess it was the altitude. Sun burns suck and I don’t ever want to get another one again, even though my roomie said mine is pretty mild. I always wondered what a sun burn felt like, and now I freaking know.

View from our "hotel" window.

View of Alps from Engelberg. Swiss cows are well taken care of. They also wear cow bells so that you can find them. We once heard a lost cow in a forest

View from Gerschnialp to Engelberg during Xtreme Scootering hehe

Xtreme Scootering with Henrik hahah

Paragliders over Brunni. I WILL go paragliding before I leave Switzerland...I hope.

This + next 4 images are a panorama of the view from Brunni. So far, I haven't figured out a way to post a panorama here. So, use your imagination =P. This is 1/5.

2/5 Brunni panorama

3/5 Brunni panorama

4/5 Brunni panorama

5/5 Brunni panorama

Dorky me, right before climbing

This isn't me (I found it on the Brunni website), but this is exactly what I did...crazy, scary fun!

Mountain climbing, via ferrata style! Can you see us?? At the top, in the middle ;D click for the big version ***I'm still waiting for some really awesome climbing pics from Henrik, check back***

View from Brunni

European automobile culture

The car culture here is very different than in North America. The cost of a Mercedes, BMW, or Audi in Europe is 150% the price in North America. This is mainly because there's more competition in this class in North America. People tend to not lease cars, but buy them straight out, although this is beginning to change. There are hardly any Asian-manufactured cars and there are even less 4x4s and SUVs. Gas is $1.50 per litre here. What's the price in Toronto now? The last I heard, it was just over $0.90/L.

I was walking through the university parking lot and, all of a sudden, it struck me that almost ALL the cars were either silver or black. There are some white cars and some red cars, but NO champagne-coloured cars at all. Actually, my German friends think that champagne-coloured cars are extremely tacky. They also think that it's bad taste to match the exterior and interior colours of your car. For example, my friend's Dad has a white car, with a terra-cotta (kind of like a burnt red) leather interior. This is considered unique and good taste. I think it's gross.

Also, people don't do after-market changes to their cars. It does happen, but it's rare. I found out that the majority of people who sup up their cars here are from the countryside, where they have nothing better to do, so it's not considered a good thing if you sup up your car.

You probably already knew, but almost all cars here are standard, everyone knows how to drive standard, and almost everyone prefers standard. There are also tons of station wagons here. For almost any model, you can find a station wagon version of it. Audis, Mercedes', Volkswagens, Volvos...anything. I think I'm still scarred from the station wagons with the wood panelling in the 80s and I think that the additional part that makes a car a station wagon also makes it ugly.

The speed limit is 120km/h in Switzerland and you'll get ticketed if you go over 130km/h. If you speed over 150km/h, it's actually considered a criminal offence and, if convicted, you get a criminal record for it, have to pay a baseline fine, AND a % of your annual salary (not sure exactly how much, but I hear it's a lot).

One of the cars that I see here that I really like, for a starter car, is the Peugeot 206cc convertible (French manufacturer, see pic!). My favourite starter car in Canada at the moment is the Mazda3, but I'd have a tough time deciding between the two if we had Peugeot in Canada. I heard that we have the Smartcar in Canada now, although I don't think it's going to work. There is a lot of parallel parking here, but not so much in Canada. In Toronto, if you don't have a parking spot for a normal car, you still won't have a parking spot for a Smartcar. And even though, yes, there is a specially-designed "safety cell", would you really like to risk being hit by one of the many huge SUVs we have? I'd rather see mopeds/scooters get big in Toronto, although the average driving distance is probably too far and it wouldn't be so great in winter lol. I just like mopeds & scooters :P.

Peugeot 206 cc

Rear view

Front view

May 23 – ‘Ice cream always cheers you up’ & Other Short Stories

Ice cream always cheers you up

Only us 3 girls have been left in the house for the next few days – all the boys went back to France. We were all prepared to go hiking yesterday, but the forecast had changed to 90% rain when we woke up at 7am. Obviously, we decided to put it off until another day. I went back to sleep, woke up at 12pm, and it was sunny. We consoled ourselves by sitting in our driveway, in the sun, and eating an entire bucket of rhubarb-vanilla ice cream.

Smells like home

Everyone’s home has a certain smell to it. Not necessarily a bad smell, although this is certainly possible, but just a smell. You never notice the smell of your own home though, since you’re just accustomed to it – unless something funky is cooking in the kitchen.

I always noticed the subtle smell of my flat here. Even coming out of my room and into the common areas, I noticed it. But, a few nights ago, I stepped out of my room and consciously realized that I didn’t notice any smell.

The next morning, I woke up happier and lighter than usual. I didn’t have any more homesickness. For the first time, I actually thought that I would really miss Switzerland once I left. It’s becoming more and more obvious as the days go by.

I feel like a country girl now haha. Now, I really think that I’m going to feel a massive culture shock when I return to Toronto. I’m going to see all the ugly parts of a big city and I’m going to miss the quiet, small-town life of Switzerland. One of the biggest things I think I’m going to miss is being on my own.

Grease & Sugar

Yesterday, Cora and I watched Grease. I think that it’s a fun movie, but also stupid at the same time. What’s more interesting is that I found out that people in Germany put either salt or sugar on their popcorn. They don’t use butter. The popcorn comes plain and then you sprinkle salt or sugar on it. Never heard of that, but I guess it’s not so odd considering that Kernels has many more odd flavours.

May 16 – Hiking in Trin Valendas & Rhine Gorge

Today, Cora and I went hiking in Trin Valendas and the Rhine Gorge, close to Chur and Laax. We hiked for 5 hours, getting lost on the way and the walking in a big, unnecessary circle for the last hour or two. There was one section which was SO steep and like ½ hr or so. Basically, we climbed up the side of a mountain. This wasn’t the route we were supposed to take, but I’m glad that we did because it was challenging. We had no food all day and there were no stores. We just ate granola bars all day, but we managed, surprisingly. I pretty much didn’t eat anything until 9pm. It was my first time hiking ever, even though I bought my hikers 2 years ago. I really enjoyed it, although I expect to be completely sore tomorrow. We’re definitely going again!

Swiss village of Trin Digg.

I *think* this is a bomb shelter. Switzerland has them all over the place. All public buildings are required by law to have them. Not sure if the law still applies to new buildings, but most public buildings do have them.

Chickens. I took this picture because our notes actually said "Take the route towards the chickens."

I really like how this picture of Cora turned out :) Everything seems to be in the right place and well-planned, although it was more of a really fast point-and-shoot pic.

Pedestrian bridge, shared with the train. We were so scared that a train would go by as we crossed and shake the whole thing with us on it haha

Hiking the Rhine Gorge.

Party @ Susanne's May 13

Just the girls

Party @ Susanne's May 13

My friend Sally met HUGH GRANT in London! It's not fair...St. Gallen has no celebrities hahah

May 8 – The day after the party and Mother’s Day

We had a party at our small flat yesterday in celebration of Cora’s birthday! We spent all afternoon decorating and it looked really great. It was a German-themed party, so we had German flags up all over. It’s actually really an issue for German people to be patriotic, because there’s still a sense of shame over their history which prevents them from being proud of their heritage. The only ones who proudly wave the German flag in Germany are the Neo-Nazis and you would be considered to be a part of them if you were patriotic in the slightest. Anyways, we disregarded those things last night for the sake of good fun, considering that none of us are Neo-Nazis.

Alex, Cora’s boyfriend, and Christiane, her sister, where here to visit from Germany. Alex brought “Ahoy” powders. It’s like Pop Rocks and it comes in many different flavours. What you’re supposed to do is say “Ahoy!”, put the powder in your mouth, add a shot of vodka, shake your head to mix it, and then swallow. Hah! It’s a lot of fun with lots of people. I had a lot of these that night and I was quite drunk. I’m going to try to bring some back to Toronto!

Drunken Incidents:
1. poured vodka all over kitchen floor.
2. bumped my head on our dish cabinet.
3. slipped and fell on our doormat in the hallway.
4. slipped and almost fell down the stairs to town. Luckily, Peter was holding me up.

We went to the Elephant afterwards, and I can now say that last night was the best party night I’ve had since I’ve gotten here – even better than Casablanca! I was just dancing all night and I didn’t get tired at all. I think I went to bed around 6:30am, but I woke up hangover-free, although sluggish.

B-day dinner :)

Alex, the master chef who baked a cake from a box

Decorations (before), although there is no "after" picture

All you need for a good night of fun...sponsored by Beck's?!

Doing one of many Vodka Ahoy shots

Andrew, Liseth, Christiane, Andrew, me

Andrew contemplating Jagermeister

Andrew showing some love for Jagermeister

Erin, Matthias & me

May 6 - Today I wear the cap of the village idiot

AGGHHHH!!!!! I’m so stupid!!! I haven’t been paying attention, but the world hockey championships have been going on. We’re so freaking out of touch here! I could’ve gone to a game!! Well I could still go but now it’ll cost at least double what it would have a few days ago, because the qualifying round is over now. I can’t afford it. That sounds like such a stupid excuse, but that’s just how it is. They’re playing in Innsbruck, Austria, which I wanted to visit ANYWAYS!!! It’s only 4 hours on the train from my town. If I’d only known about this a week ago, I would’ve gone. I could have gotten front row seats for 40 euros ($65), and the train would have cost me only 90 CHF there and back (special price). I am gonna regret this big time and for a long time.

It’s one of the rare times when procrastination kicks me in the ass, real hard.

Postcard that I bought - Kiss by the Hotel de Ville, Paris, 1950 - picture by Robert Doisneau

May 6 – A little bit of culture

Today, I took a trip to Winterthur with some friends to go to the fotomuseum winterthur. Check it out at www.fotomuseum.ch It was easy to tell as soon as I stepped off of the train that it was a museum town. There was more thought put into the design of everything from buildings to bus shelters than elsewhere. It was so great to get some culture and to be intellectually prodded. We got to see 3 exhibitions: portraits by Rineke Dijkstra, portraits by Helmar Lerski (including Metamorphosen des Gesichts (Metamorphosis)), and a collection called The Dream of Myself, The Dream of the World, which was an exploration of self-identities and false-identities.

The only detail that I’ll go into here is Lerski’s exhibition, which was actually photographed in the 1930s. He took 140 photos of a labourer and it’s said that, through changing the lighting and effects, he was able to make no two photos look like the same individual. It was really unique, although I thought that the other exhibits were even better.

The postcards that they sold there were the kind of postcards that you buy for yourself and that you would never actually send because you enjoy them so much. I bought 7 postcards, I think, and that was after restraining myself. Most of them are black and white, with a very somber mood, although there are a few exceptions (see pic of “Kiss by the Hotel de Ville, Paris, 1950”)

We went grocery shopping in Winterthur, because everything in St. Gallen was going to be closed by the time we got back. The really funny part was that, for some time, I was carrying a zucchini in my purse! It reminded me of the Sex and the City episode where Carrie is on jury duty and the man sitting next to her pulled a mango out of his suitcase!

I finally got to try some Spruengli chocolate, which is supposed to be THE best in Switzerland. It was about the same price as Godiva, but even Lindt chocolate here is cheap (under 1.50 CHF per bar), so this was relatively very expensive. However, with my experience in chocolate sampling, I can say that it was the best dark chocolate I’ve ever had.

May 5 – Greenfield Festival!!!

I don’t think I’ve mentioned this yet, but I got my ticket for the Greenfield Festival a week or so ago!!! The lineup is so amazing!! It was a choice between this one and the St. Gallen OpenAir. Actually, looking back on it, it wasn’t such a hard decision. Really, I could go to both, but I don’t want to. It’ll just be too much. Take a look:

www.openairsg.ch

There's also another one in Germany called the Rock-am-Ring: www.rock-am-ring.com or www.rock-am-ring.de

www.greenfieldfestival.ch

Greenfield is being held in Interlaken, Switzerland, which is one of the most beautiful places in the country. The town is between two lakes and surrounded by mountains. It’s also one of the best places in the world for extreme sports. I am definitely going to try paragliding!! For some reason, bungee jumping and skydiving scare me, but paragliding doesn’t.

I’ve actually never been to a concert before, so I’m just throwing myself into this. I’ve always wanted to, but it’s just never happened. I’m going with a bunch of Canadians and Americans, and they’re all fun. I’m so excited (and scared) to camp out at a 3-day festival!

May 5 – In a lounge-y mood

Today is Ascension, a national holiday. I’m not sure what it’s for, except that it’s religiously-related. Everything’s closed, so there’s no possibility for me to go out anywhere today. I’m just chilling at home, in my pajamas, listening to ambient lounge, watching the view outside, snacking on chocolate, and writing. I love kinder-bueno chocolate! It’s the kind with the hazelnut filling. Mmm. I also love Lindt milk chocolate. It’s like the Lindt balls with the melting chocolate in the middle, but in bar form. They always give the Lindt balls with a certain dinner at Swiss Chalet near Christmas time. I always go to Swiss Chalet just because of that. Yum! The grocery situation at my house is never dire until I run out of chocolate.

My taxes were due 5 days ago and I haven’t done them yet. I think I’ll do them today, because it’s causing me stress and ruining my lounge mood. I think I’m ok, because you only have to file by April 30th if you owe them money and I’m sure they owe me money.

I’m really sick of my clothes. I’m literally living out of one suitcase, because my snowboard counted as my other piece of luggage. I don’t regret bringing my snowboard at all, but I’m just tired of everything that I have. I still have another 3 ½ months to go! Sometimes I’ll think that I have the perfect thing to wear for a certain party, but then I realize that it’s at home. That just sucks. I don’t think I brought enough summer stuff, but at least it’s the cheapest to buy.

I realized that I spent so much in the last 2 months that I have to cut my budget in half for the next 2 months. Not fun.

The weather here is…confused. Yesterday, it dropped to below 10 degrees and it was cloudy in the morning. Then, it rained. Then, it was sunny and above 15 degrees. Then, it was rainy and below 10 degrees again an hour after that. Blegh!!!

The people are really friendly and nice here. When we were in Zurich, Cora asked a pair of senior citizens for a light, and they began a conversation on what we should see and do in Zurich! Yesterday, I was walking to class and I greeted an old man who was walking his dog. (It’s common courtesy to greet if you’re not in the city center.) He struck up a conversation with me about whether I was studying, how long I’d been here, what I was going to do after, and wished that I enjoy my stay here at the end of it! I don’t usually greet people unless they’re over 30, because some of the people on my street are students and they don’t usually greet you back.

I know that this perceived niceness is also a result of my attitude. I don’t mean to get all technical on you, but it’s partially the result of a ‘self-fulfilling prophecy.’ I’m not apprehensive about talking to strangers in the street here, so the whole exchange between me and said stranger is a lot nicer than if I were standoffish about the whole thing. If someone were to greet me in Toronto, I’d probably ignore them. Actually, it would depend on what they said. If they said “Good morning/afternoon/evening,” there’d be a better chance I’d reply than if they said, “Hi.” Plus, us city-folk just think it’s weird if a stranger greets us while we’re walking on the street.

May 2 – Is there a reason why we usually pass things to the left?

We’ve been having a heat wave for the last 3 days. It’s been feeling like about 27 degrees. Prior to the heat wave, we had weeks of rain and cloud. Today’s the last day of the heat wave, although we have thunderstorms. Thunderstorms are awesome when you can enjoy them from the comforts of your own home. I love it when they happen just as I’m going to sleep. Tomorrow, it’s going to drop right down to 10 and stay between 5 and 10 for the rest of the week. I brought plenty of clothes for the range between 10 and 20 and I haven’t even gotten to wear them yet. It’s ridiculous and everyone’s sick.

Yesterday, I went to the 3 ponds again, but this time with the Canadian guys: Alex, his visiting buddy Simon, Jordan, John, & Marcin. Alex approached some Swiss guys in the park, and one of the guys just said, “I remember you from The Elephant club! You were very drunk!” hahaha. We ended up just chilling with them for a while. We had sudden hunger spasms, but it wasn’t time for dinner yet, so we passed around a jar of pickles – to the left, of course. Then, for a while, we just ate bread.

Alex had thought that there would be grills at the park, but it turned out that you’re supposed to gather wood on your own and start your own fire in the park. When it got close to dusk, people were climbing trees, breaking off branches, and starting fires just in the middle of the park. We met up with Alex’s exchange buddy and some of his buddy’s buddies. They already had a fire going and so we cooked up some sausages. There were almost 10 of us standing in a circle. The guy who was cooking passed the first done sausage to the guy on his left and we just kept passing it to the left until it reached the guy to the right of the guy who was cooking hahah. I was wondering if people in Australia pass to the right… Their toilets do flush in the opposite direction.