Adventures in Switzerland

life stepped in...

As ocassionally happens in the world of web-logs, real life stepped in and weblogging has been sidelined for a while; it may continue to be for some time, as, well, we like you and all but the 3-D world just gets priority in the end.

One thing I will mention: last weekend we consciously decided that it was time to enter one of the places we've avoided since comming here. The expat bar. We'd seen it from the outside, walked in and quickly done an about-face, but the thing is: you just don't get spontaneous contact with people in Swiss bars. No idle chatter about nothing in particular with strangers. Serious, polite conversation about meaningful topics, yes. Cheerful banter, no. And we were in need of cheerful banter.

Which we found. As we stumbled home at around 3, we recapped the night's events. They involved someone (not us) dancing on a bar, lots of observations on people we didn't speak to, but especially an evening's conversation with some perfect strangers about nothing in particular. It was relaxing. It felt like home, for a while.

I'm not sure what to think about the fact that, in this bar filled to the gills with every nationality on earth, the "strangers" we ended up drinking the night away with were 100% pure Basel Swiss. What does this mean about our integration- even when we are trying to be expats, we end up with Swiss people. Maybe we belong here after all.

Ost- versus West Schweiz

Last time we took a trip to the east side of Switzerland and were suprised by the different athmosphere related to Basel (and its environment). We visited St. Gallen and were confronted with an agressive driving style of most cars (mostly those with a license plate form Zurich but also others). Yes, they do stop when you are passing a zebra-crossing but drive quickly further (and fast) within a distance of already half a meter. When this happened in Basel this would be very rare and rude.

Probably the Zurich (and its environment) style is much more agressive and less friendly than West Switzerland. Is this because Zurich is more international? Or because Zurich is much more dominated by the German culture? I see the first one as a possibility but don't think that the second one is a realistic one. Or is in Zurich just a different mentality? I think it is and it is definetely something I want to find out more in detail.

Yes, we are heading to the right level of details to find out some differences in Switzerland! Oops, are we now brainwashed to look at these small details, are we becoming Swiss people?

Must be a good moment to look further (meaning outside 'Die Schweiz'): so, next visit will be

Munich!

Very, very clean country

I know, we've mentioned this before, cleanliness is next to godliness here in Switzerland. To those who may not understand the extent of cleanliness, can I please point out this picture, Monday morning, a national holiday here:

THIS MAN IS VACUUMING THE GRAVEL AROUND THE TRAIN TRACKS

'nuff said.

Think before you act ...

When I was trying to grow up my parents taught me to think before I do something, this was part of becoming an adult as they say. When I reached the age of an adult and started enthousiastic with my career I found out that acting before thinking was more rewarded than thinking before acting. If you think, you have nothing to show and then you will loose the rat-race. The fact that the results of all this quickly actions doesn't ment anything was not relevant at the moment: it was all about winning (so the other had to loose).

Here in Switzerland they really think before they act and when it is time for action, it goes really fast. The time between making the final decision and go for the action can take a long period, but the decision is also applicable for a much more longer period than all these quick decisions. Not flexible? Yeah, that's right. But I think I prefer to be confronted with a change that is also an improvement than being confronted all the time with changes without any improvements. I strongly believe that 80% of all the changes which occur in Holland the last ten years were meaningless and had perhaps only some political effectiveness (some people thought they had made career).

The world get so much more nice if we all really focus more on the real important things and I think it is all worthwile to spend some time about those real important things. In this context important means when it concerns to a lot of people and then the instrument of a referendum seemed to me a good one. And that takes some time!

Springing and running

There are a lot of ways to tell that the spring has finally actually arrived. The tree next to my window, which is a late bloomer, has finally started budding. The bulbs are in bloom. People leave the house without jackets. The Rhine is becomming a place to hang out again. My personal favorite: the moroni-man has been replaced by the Ice Cream Guy. Yay!

So with all of this sun and great weather, it seemed like time to get back outdoors. I've done a couple of different sports in my life with varying degrees of seriousness, although anything involving hand-eye coordination is out (like tennis, vollyball, baseball, basketball, and, well, any other sports ending in "ball") because, sad but true, I have no hand-eye coordination. I swam, ice skated and ran for a while. Most recently Marco and I have been hiking, but that never feels like a "real" sport. And we hadn't been doing much of that during the winter, so I am in serious need of getting in better shape. (No, the gym idea never took... too far from home, too little energy, too little outdoors).

I came across an ad for a running group, with a traininer, starting from the park right across the street from our house at a reasonable hour in the evenings. Great, I thought, that sounds like the perfect way to get back into the swing of things. And it was, there was a trainer, there was a park, there was good weather but, well, there was just one thing missing: the group. NO ONE but me showed up. So I had a personal trainer for the evening, which was a challenging for my German as for running. He said we'd go next week again, but I wonder how long this will last if no one else decides to show. And I was kind of hoping to meet some people outside of work through this....

The Swiss are organized

OK, this may not be news, that the Swiss are an organized people. But sometimes you come across an example just worthe mentioning. Like this one. What is this picture of? Well, it's spring (theoretically, at least), so time to plant seeds. This, to me, means buy a packet of seeds, stick some of them in the ground and see what comes up. That, apparently, is just too much chaos here. This is a filter paper with seeds in it, all spaced at millimeter- exact distance apart. The packet says that the "Spezialpapiere halten die Samen im optimalen Abstand"- the filter paper keeps the seeds at optimal distance. We wouldn't want our plants getting all crazy now, would we?

Notice that the earth in the tub the magical filter paper is in has no sign of life. I put the magical filter papers in more than 2 weeks ago. They have roots, but it's been so cold that they don't want to come out to deal with the world. Can you blame them? But today was sunny, so there's hope.....

Too much....

I like snow. Snow is white and fluffy and good for skiing, snowshoeing, winter hikes, snowmen, and all kinds of good stuff. It crunches when you walk on it and it mutes all of the sounds of the city. I even liked the Swiss snow that prevented me from driving through the Alps during the 3 days that my family spent in Switzerland, probably the last time that they will be here for years to come. And who knows how long we'll be here. But I'm not bitter about that, you think, hey, it's the first week in March. This can happen.

But there is such a thing as too much of a good thing. IT'S FRIGGIN' APRIL. THE SNOW MUST STOP. It snowed today all day. Not a little bit. Not little wimpy flakes mixed in with rain and melted right away. Big flakes that stuck on the ground. I never thought I'd say this, but thank heavens at about 6 pm it started raining and the snow is going away.

Spring snow? Thank you very much, but no thanks. I'm with Heather here, who kindly requested that whoever sent this weather stick it where the sun don't shine and send us some good weather. Well, except she said it much more politely.

Please stop now. I want flowers. I want sun. I want to go outdoors without bundling up. It's time.

Taxing my German skills

I thought, all right, I've learned a bit of German since I moved here. I can call up someone on the phone and ask basic questions, and usually understand what they say in response. I can understand pretty much all of the e-mail that I get at work- fortunately it's usually bilingual (English/German), but I do understand the German bits.

Then April 1 started to approach- April 15 will mean more to the Americans. Income tax filing day. Swiss tax forms only available in German, French or Italian. I took a deep breath, told myself, "how hard could it be?" and opened the online form.

My German class didn't prepare me for tax-language German. Steurerklarung. Erwerbsenfähige. Liegenschaftenverzeichnis. Gründstukgewinnsteurpflichtiger.

Am I a wimp for having sent in a letter asking for an extension?

Genf - Geneva

Funny thing here: the German speaking part of CH speaks about Genf, I learned Geneve (French way with the accents on it), the italians had their way and so on and on. I was expecting that the Swiss people accepted the names of the city just as they are from the local language. Must be very naive from me.

Anyway, as a young boy I liked small dinkey toys and later on I read a lot of car magazines and actually never had lost this kind of interest (I only add motorbikes to it and most people in Holland reject these way of transportation). In these magazines there was always a lot of attention when the international exhibition in Geneva took place: the most important and interesting show about cars of the world (Detroit and Tokio are ranking two and three). The rest of my life I kept this impression and while I am living now just about 150 km away, I really had to go!

So, how was it? Indeed it was large, big, huge, etc. Was it really special? It was a little bit more decorated than other shows, but really special? No, I don't thing so. Was the show dissappointing? No, certainly not. Was I excited. No. So what is going on? I think it is just the fact that I grow a little bit over car shows (only looking at new cars) but still had the picture in my head when I was 14 years old. Do I regret my visit? Certainly not, it was all worthwile but next time I will spend my time in an other way and I am glad I can tick again one of my wishes list of doing things in CH!

From the region/Uit de regio

Switzerland is a pretty isolationist country; it's not part of the European Union, only very recently joined the UN, and, in general, tries to keep to itself. Even within Switzerland, all of the "Kanton"s (sort of like provinces) keep to themselves. This has some good results: people are very aware of and involved with local politics, since an individual really can make a difference. A lot of the "hardening" of society has passed by Switzerland- people are still friendly.

But there are some bad things. One that affects daily life is that EVEYTHING that can come from the region, must. So supermarkets are full of food "from the region". Good for fruit and vegetables, they taste better and are fresher (although the kiwi from the region was just plain bad). Bad if you want, say, ingredients for a good wok dish. Or meat, which there isn't much of in Switzerland so its disproportionately expensive.

So yesterday we left the region and went grocery shopping in Germany. Heaven. We'll be enjoying our imported food for some time! NOT from the region.

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Zwitserland is een vrij geisoleerd land: ze zijn niet deel van de Europese Unie, en pas sinds kort lid van de VN. Ze proberen, in z'n algemeenheid, op zichzelf te blijven. Zelfs binnen Zwitserland zijn alle Kantons (zoiets als provincies) vrij zelfstandig. Dit heeft sommige goede uitwerkingen: mensen zijn betrokken bij lokale politiek, want een persoon kan hier werkelijk een verschil maken. Veel van de "verharding" van de maatschappij is aan Zwitserland voorbij gegaan- de mensen zijn nog steeds vriendelijk.

Maar er zijn ook aspecten waar je minder blij van wordt. Eentje dat je in het dagelijks leven merkt is dat ALLES "uit de regio" moet komen. Dus, alle supermarkten zitten vol met eten "uit de regio". Fijn voor groente en fruit, die zijn vers dus lekkerder (hoewel de kiwi "uit de regio" niet zo geslaagd was). Maar slecht als je, bijvoorbeeld, ingredienten voor een goede wok maaltijd wilt. Of vlees, waar er weinig van is in Zwitserland en dus heel erg duur.

Dus, gisteren hebben we de regio verlaten en hebben we in Duitsland de boodschappen gehaald. Heerlijk. Wij zullen voorlopig kunnen genieten van onze geimporteerde eten. NIET uit de regio.

Hup Svizzera!

And the winner is ... Sweden.

The final was a real good one, the last medals but certainly not the least one! It was an excited game between Finland (Suomi) and Sweden. The Swedish teamwork and impressive tactics seemed to be stronger than the fastness and enormous energy of the Suomis but it was a close finish and above all the last saving of the Swedish goalkeeper was fantastic (for me the most wonderfull action of the Winter Olympics).

What about Svizzera: they have done a real good job! They won from Canada and the worldchampions (the Tsjechs) and lost from the gold medal team Sweden. So, nothing to be ashamed for and finally they reached the sixt place which is a hingher ranking than the current world standings. Proficiat.

About four years we will see in Vancouver how much more the Swiss have improved!

So, back to normal life and here in Switzerland they called that Fasnacht! First, the more traditional one in Luzern and one week later the real one in Basel! (Just changing ski-clothes to party clothes)

In the mean time we have to kill time with EHC Basel (first homeplay will be 3 March against Lugano (you know that team with some gold medal players)). So, let the rest of the world keep on thinking Switzerland is so boring which gives the real people enough space to enjoy the good things in life!

Fondue

Fondue is something I realy like: especially bourgogne-fondue but cheese fondue is also real fun!

But what about shoki-fondue: still something we had to learn from the Swiss because I've never heard it before we arrived in CH. Maybe, next time a picture about shoki-fondue ...

Washing day!

I already mentioned this earlier, it is a typical Swiss thing to have a common washing machine and I'm so glad we have good neighbours who act very practical with this thing. It works suprisingly very well in our apartment building, so I've already forgotton this whole thing untill... yesterday evening: At this moment I am taking a course at Migros Klubschule and normally my teacher(in) met her colleague right after the course but this time we were a little bit late so her colleague had to enter our course room to say:

"I'm sorry', I can't make it tonight because it's my washing day!"

Everybody accepts that here in Switzerland as a reasonable excuse: if it is your washing day every thing else stops!

no time to work

The biggest problem you have when you live here here in Switzerland is to find time to work. In the summer there are a lot of outdoor activities, like hiking, discovering the beauty of the Alpes, enjoy the livelyhood of Swiss people (really a lot of Festli), crossing through the country (and around) by motorcycle, swimming, walking, biking, learning foreign languages ... etc.

During autumn there is also a lot to do like 'Die Schweiz entdecken mit dem zug', keep on learning foreign languages, hosting some friends, practicing paragliding ... etc.

During winter the outdoor activity means the greatest thing: skiing! . Sorry, but again a picture (can't get enough)

And also icehockey, weblogging, reading all the books you have bought during the last years.

What will spring give us? Some ongoing learning foreign languages (that's for sure) but also hiking, biking, motorcycling, playing tennis, socialising. So, I decided to stop playing soccer and maybe it is better also not to spend time with working.

However, first more days to spend with skiing ... and then Fasnacht!

Integrating (slowly but surely)

Nearing the 6-month anniversary of our move to Switzerland (is that possible? Can we really have been here 6 MONTHS already?) Marco and I are doing our best integrating into the Swiss way of doing things. Some small things, some big things.... for instance, we've already gotten very used to people being polite all of the time, which means traveling to elsewhere will take some getting used to. Not that we like every single aspect of Swiss culture, but nowhere is perfect and, making up the balance after 6 months, we certainly like it here a lot.

Marco has done his part in integrating into Basel life by, among other things, becoming a true EHC supporter (I'll leave him to report on the conclusion of tonight's important match against Fribourg). Me? Since this morning I'm the proud owner of a pair of skis. Well, not really the owner, I've just rented them for the season (as Marco did his) but they feel like mine. And it makes me feel a little more like I'm taking part of Switzerland now that we can get out and enjoy day- and weekend- ski trips.

One thing we havn't posted much on is expat-life here in Basel. It's big. Thousands and thousands of foreigners live in Basel to work for the big pharmaceutical companies and banks here. Walking down the street you hear any number of languages, including lots of English- British, American and Foreign forms. On the one hand, having a large expat population is great- all of these people are new, open for new contacts, have run into the same problems you have, and in general it brings a lot of flavor to a city to have so many nationalities. The openness can be refreshing in a country with a culture where it takes some time to really get accepted into a social circle- although we're certainly trying to get to know Swiss people, we do live in Switzerland, after all.

On the other hand, expat contact by its very nature is somewhat superficial- everybody knows they're only here for a little while. After only 6 months here, we will already have to say goodbye to some of the first people we got to know here in Basel before the spring. I wonder how many will follow?

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Ondertussen wonen Marco en ik bijna 6 maanden (6 MAANDEN? Is het mogelijk dat we hier al 6 MAANDEN wonen?) We doen ons best om een beetje te integreren hier in Zwitserland. Met kleine dingen, grote dingen..... we zijn bijvoorbeeld ondertussen al erg gewend aan geraakt dat mensen altijd vriendelijk en beleeft zijn, wat het moeilijk zal maken om straks door andere landen te reizen. Niet dat we nou alles aan Zwitserland leuk vinden, maar na 6 maanden kunnen we denk ik veilig zeggen dat we het wel erg naar onze zin hebben hier.

Marco heeft zijn best gedaan met integreren in het Baselse onder andere door een ware EHC supporter te worden (ik zal het aan Marco over laten om te rapporteren over de belangrijke wedstrijd vanavond tegen Fribourg). En ik? Ik ben sinds vanochtend trotse eigenaar van een paar ski's. Nou, eigenaar, ik heb ze voor het seizoen gehuurd (net als Marco), maar ze voelen al een beetje als "mijn" ski's. En ik voel me nu iets meer alsof ik meedoe nu dat wij weekendjes en dagjes naar de bergen kunnen.

Een ding waar we niet veel over geschreven hebben is het expat-leven hier in Basel. Het is groot. Duizenden mensen stromen Basel in jaarlijks om een tijd lang bij de banken, grote farmaceuten en andere bedrijven hier in de buurt te werken. Als je over straat loopt, hoor je allerlei talen door elkaar, inclusief veel engels- van de varianten Brits, Amerikaans, en "foreign english". Enerzijds is de grote populatie expats fijn. Dit zijn mensen die ook allemaal nieuw zijn, open staan voor contact, tegen het zelfde aanlopen als jezelf, en het brengt sowieso veel kleur naar een stad, zo veel nationaliteiten. De openheid kan verfrissend zijn in een land waar het even duurt voor dat je geaccepteerd wordt in een sociale kring- hoewel we natuurlijk proberen contact te hebben met Zwitsers, we wonen tenslotte in Zwitserland.

Anderzijds, expat contacten zijn oppervlakkig van nature- alle expats weten dat ze hier maar tijdelijk zijn. Na slechts 6 maanden moeten we straks afscheid nemen van twee van de eerste mensen die we hier hebben leren kennen, nog voor het voorjaar. Ik ben benieuwd- hoeveel volgen er nog?

networking

I was always suprised that in Business-Holland we talked a lot about networking but never really did it in an active way. Here in Switzerland it is method one in arranging things. Pretty difficult if you are educated in a country where friendliness is scare and bruteness is common practice.

Let's say, be aware of it is step number one, doing it more actively is the next step!

Dear readerinnen and readers

The first months here in CH were full of total enthousiasmic. And indeed after a while you also find less pleasant things, like the heating system. Let's be very clear on this: I absolutely hate this heating system (a central system for all appartments in a big block) because you cannot control it. I'm used to have a thermostat for each appartment, for me it is so obvious to have this individually to fulfil the individual needs and also avoid unneccassary heating. Unfortunately an individual thermostat doesn't exist here in Basel!

How does it works? Between 07:00 and 22:00 (in our apartment) the heating is on and the only way you can controll it individually is to open or close the 9 radiators (each one) apart! Something which I called keeping you busy. These 'opening hours' are very irritating for me: sometimes I work on very late (untill 24:00) and then I stop because I get it really cold after 2 hours without heating.

But this winter lightened it all up a little: when it freezes outside, the heating stays on (it doesn't stop!) for the whole night. So, during sleeping it is getting very dry and hot inside when it is getting cold outside ... and when it is not freezing it is getting cold inside. Do you get it?

Maybe one time I am able to explain to the swiss people that 4 degrees Celcius is also cold and even then I need some heating!

small differences - kleine verschillen

Just like it is already been said (it one of the greatest movies 'pulp fiction'): wherever you go, they have the same shit like everywhere but it is all about the small differences ...

One of them is ... the people here in CH don't use writing paper with lines (they seemed to use writing paper with small blocks)! It isn't really a big thing, just I hate small blocks because it give me the feeling I'm back to basic school (one letter in just one block, do you remember?)

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Zoals het al eens eerder is gezegd (in één van de beste films 'pulp fiction'): waar je ook bent, overal is dezelfde ellende waar je mee te maken hebt, maar het gaat juist om die keine verschillen ...

Eén van die kleine verschillen is het volgende ... het is hier ongebruikelijk om gebruik te maken van lijntjespapier (de mensen schrijven hier kennelijk op kleine blokjes papier). Het maakt natuurlijk allemaal niet zoveel uit, maar schrijfpapier met kleine blokjes is nu juist iets waar ik zo'n hekel aan heb omdat het mij een gevoel geeft dat ik weer terug ben op de lagere school (precies één letter in één klein blokje, weet je het nog?)

Vignette country

To those who have driven around Europe, the Swiss "vignette" will be a familiar sight, decorating many a car window. This sticker is a proof of payment of the Swiss motorway tax, CHF 40 per year (about EUR30, USD$35) which allows you to drive on Swiss roads for a year. Not a bad deal if you drive on the motorway a lot; for a lot of tourists just trying to get from Northern to Southern Europe, it's a lot to pay just to cross the Alps. Which is how the Swiss can finance their amazing mountain tunnel construction projects.

Switzerland is a major connection for northern and southern Europe, as it has been throughout history. The Swiss Alp mountain passes are amazing things. Some of them, like the St. Gotthard Pass, have been in use since the 1300's. Having been through these breathtaking passes by car and by train now, I'm amazed by the thought of people traveling on these roads in the middle ages; that must have been quite a voyage. At the time, the passes opened up Europe, shortening travel time from North to South immensely. In the middle ages, though, the people traveling weren't giving the environment such a hard time, being few in number and by foot or horse, as opposed to the huge number of tourists flocking to Italian coasts each summer.

Vignettes aren't just used for motorways, they are used for lots of things here in Switzerland; there are vignettes for your bicycle (to show you have third party insurance), vignettes to throw away trash (to show you have paid your tax).... I laughed about the numbers of stickers you had to buy and keep track of when we first got here, but I actually think it's a good system. You pay for what you use: it's the Swiss local's way of saying "fine if you want to drive on our roads or throw stuff away, but you have to pay for it".

And the mountain passes are more than worth the CHF40.

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Voor degenen die veel auto gereden hebben door Europa, zal de Zwitserse vignette een bekend gezicht zijn: ze zijn op vele voorruiten te zien. Het is een betalingsbewijs van de Zwitserse wegenbelasting, CHF 40 per jaar (ongeveer EUR30, of USD$35), waarmee je een jaar lang mag rijden op de Zwitserse wegen. Niet slecht als je hier een jaar rond rijdt, maar best veel geld voor de vele mensen die alleen van noord- naar zuid Europa willen reizen. En zodoende kunnen ze hun enorme projecten om nieuwe bergtunnels te bouwen financieren.

Zwitzerland is een historisch belangrijke verbinding tussen noord- en zuid europa. De Swiss bergpassen zijn werkelijk ongelofelijk. Sommige, zoals de St. Gotthardpas, zijn als sinds de jaren 1300 in gebruik. Nu dat ik ze met de auto gezien heb, ben ik des te meer onder de indruk van het idee dat mensen daar in de middeleeuwen al gebruik van maakten; dat moet een waanzinnige onderneming zijn geweest. In die tijd, hebben de passen Europa "kleiner" gemaakt, door reistijden van noord naar zuid waanzinnig in te korten. Maar, het milieu had het een stuk minder zwaar te verduren toen, met de relatief weinig mensen die te voet of te paard de oversteek maakten, in tegenstelling tot de hordes mensen die tegenwoordig gebruik maken van de Gotthard om de Italiaanse stranden op te zoeken.

Vignetten worden niet alleen voor wegenbelasting gebruikt hier, ze zijn ook voor heel veel andere dingen in gebruik: fietsen (om te laten zien dat je WA verzekering hebt), vuil op laten halen (ook weer om belasting te betalen)..... Ik heb er veel om gelachen in het begin, maar ik vind het eigenlijk een erg goed systeem. Je betaalt voor wat je gebruikt: de Zwitsers zeggen: "je wilt hier rond rijden, prima, maar wegen kosten geld, dus als je er gebruik van maakt moet je betalen". Vind ik redelijk.

En de passen zijn zeker CHF40 waard.

Swiss rules

Most of the time (always until this new one I've learned) the Swiss rules are very much focused on security and being safe. But this new one was really astonishing for me.

Learn how to drive a motorvehicle, for instance a motorbike like a yamaha R1 (very beatifull!), can be done in this way, even if you have no experience at all:
First take a first aid course and passed a written road rules test (you know the pictures test with two possible anwers yes or no) and then apply for a provisional test, attend an eight hours of compulsory traffic theory and then
Secondly, display an 'L' plate at the rear of your vehicle ...
and then DRIVE!
(ok, you are not allowed on motorway's, but hey, if you do that with a Yamaha R1 you will probbaly had to hand it in very quickly if you only use 30% of the capacity of this bike.)

Oh, I forgot to mention that you must always be accompanied by a qualifier driver who has held a full driving license (so, not this provisional one) for at last three years. My question would be: Who would do that? I mean sitting on the rear-seat of an R1 (not really comfortable) with someone who has no experience at all! I must admit it is a beatifull way of suicide.

Not to mention about the wheely tendency of this bike with someone on the rear-seat!

By the way, one month ago I saw a yamaha R1 parked in the centre of Basel with ... jawohl, an 'L' plate at the rear! Probbaly looking for his passenger ....

Fitness for the soul/ Fitnessziel

While we were at the EHC Basel game, we were approached by a girl saying we could sign up for a contest to win a free trip to Dubai. Knowing full well this was a marketing trick, we thought, eh, Dubai would be interesting, and signed up anyway.

The next week, a phone call came to say that we'd won a prize. Not the trip, of course, but a 50 franc travel voucher that we could pick up at the fitness center sponsoring the contest, and a free day at the gym. We don't have a gym here yet, so we let ourselves be suckered in to it and went off to our free lesson.

At the gym (which, by the way, is pretty nice) I ran into the problem that Marco's mentioned before: the Swiss don't like to explain things beforehand. Not that I have a lot of gym experience, but I'm used to being spoon-fed to the point of tedium by chipper college students trying to sell me a half year at they gym, but though they were all friendly and polite, they just sort of let us loose on the bike and cross trainer and made an appointment for Friday... no price list, no explaining the miracles that the gym would provide.... OK, it's not rocket science here, but I still lik to have stuff explained and it was a big contrast with Holland, where we'd have gotten a minute-for-minute account of what we were going to do before starting. I think it wasn't really in their plan that we'd actually be doing any sports yesterday, but he said "yes" when I asked if I should bring sports clothes with me... I've no idea what we'll be doing Friday, but when you ask that question, you get an answer that is basically: "do stuff". Which is all fine for leasure activities, but when it's something important the lack of communication may be a little frustrating....

Weird part of the evening was when filling out forms, we were asked about our "fitnessziel": in Dutch "fitness soul". Wasn't expecting such deep questions.... turns out ziel means "goals" in German. Darn. A fit soul is good as well!

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Toen we bij het EHC Basel wedstrijd waren, kwam een meisje naar ons toe met de vraag of dat we mee wilden doen met een loting, waarbij je een reis naar Dubai kon winnen. We wisten wel dat dit een stukje marketing was, maar dachten, eh, Dubai zou best leuk zijn, we doen gewoon mee.

De week daarna, kregen we een telefoontje dat ons loot in de prijzen gevallen was. Niet de hoofdprijs, natuurlijk, maar een reisbon dat we bij de fitnesscentre op konden halen die de loting gesponsord had... en dan ook een gratis dag bij de fitnesscentre. We hebben toch nog geen sportgelegenheid hier, dus lieten we ons overhalen om mee te doen met een les gisteren.

Bij de fitnescenter, liep ik tegen hetzelfde probleem waar Marco het over gehad heeft: ze houden er hier niet van om dingen van te voren uit te leggen. Niet dat ik nou heel vak heb gefitnest, maar ik ben gewend dat een vrolijke student dingen komt uitleggen in hapklare brokjes en ondertussen probeert je een abonnement aan te smeren. Dat gebeurde niet... howel zel allemall vriendelijk en beleeft waren, ze lieten ons een beetje aanrommelen met fiets en cross-trainer... geen prijslijst, geen praatje over de wonderen die je zult voelen na gebruik van hun fitnescenter.... OK, zo moelijk is dit allemaal niet, dat fitnessen, maar ik hou er toch van als dingen uitgelegd worden en het contrast met Nederland is nogal groot: daar zouden we een minuut-voor-minuut plan gekregen hebben. Acheraf gezien was het volgens mij niet de bedoeling dat we gisteren al zouden gaan sporten; maar niet dat hij dat over de telefoon zegt.... We hebben nu een echte afspraak voor vrijdag. Nu ben ik erg benieuwd wat er vrijdag gaat gebeuren... maar op die vraag krijg je een antwoord dat neer komt op : "dingen doen". Ik laat het gewoon over me heen gaan, maar kan me ook voorstellen dat dit in niet vrije-tijd situaties lastig is....

Raar was toen de instructeur mij vroeg naar mijn fitnesziel: "ziel" blijkt "doel" te betekenen in het Duits. Jammer, goede conditie van je ziel is ook belangrijk....

Hollandse toestanden

Het cover artikel van de Intermediair gaat over de hoffelijkheid van Nederlanders met als titel 'Allemaal Hufters': hierin wordt o.a. het gedrag in het verkeer gesproken en dan natuurlijk het links rijden en de reacties daarop (NL betekent in het duits Nur Links (een oude bekende)).

Na dit gelezen te hebben sla ik de zaterdagbijlage open van de 'Basler Zeitung' en lees meteen een artikel over notoire linksrijders met als commentaar hierop: 'Das Strassenverkehrgesetz kennt zwei Tatbestände, die diesen notorischen Linksfahrer disziplinieren köntten: 'Nichtbenutzung des rechtenn Fahrstreifens' und 'Behindern des nachfolgenden Verkehrs durch Nichtfreigeben des Überholstreifens' ... beide Vergehen würden mit einer Ordnungsbusse von 60 Franken geahndet.

Echter, andere zaken blijken helaas ook hier voor de politie belangrijker te zijn (zoals Vignetcontrole). Volgens het artikel komt dat omdat politievoertuigen nu eenmaal niet over videoinstallaties beschikt en dus geen bewijsmateriaal kan verzamelen. Hoe dan ook, de publieke druk is er wel degelijk ... of is dit een eerste signaal voor Hollandse toestanden?

Migros versus Coop

Pro's and con's of (our) Migros versus (our) Coop:

(our) Migros:
- Half of the shop is non-food, not handy for daily use
- Secretly employees from France (they start to shout if you don't understand them immediately)
- More than half is BIO(logical) stuff, very good for environment but not for taste
- Ban on cigarettes, beer and wine (only alcohol-free beer ... who drinks this stuff?)
- Always end up spending double time than planned and getting through half of your shopping list
- Cat milk is do-able, in contrast to other cat stuff
- Obligation for a 2 franc lease arrangement for your shopping cart (I hate that)

(our) Coop:
- Much more choice in everything
- Employees from Switzerland (very friendly)
- Mostly groceries and other daily necessities
- Cigarettes, beer and wine: not good for health but the spice of life!
- Efficient and effective grocery shopping (also from marketing perspective: bought more than your shopping list)
- Whiskas and catsan for our beasts (als het aan de kat lag, dan ...)
- No lease arrangement for shopping cart!

Summary: our beasts obligate us to go to Coop, so unfortunately we had to skip socially-responsible Migros (what a pity, isn't it?)

clean - cleaner - sauber

Nothing is wrong with clean things, but here 'in die Schweiz' they go one step further than cleaning: meaning that cleaning is compulsary even when it could damage!

Example one: when you take your car to the garage for regular checking, the first thing they do is cleaning the ENGINE itself! Off course, they also charge you for that (with Swiss prices). I'm not an expert but I do know that some dirt (with normal use) is just good for your engine becuase it gives some protection and besides this it also tells you a lot about the condition of the engine (like oil leaks). Anyway, a Swiss mechanic doesn't like to get dirty hands and everything should be (or otherwise they make it) clean before starting. I'm wondering whether they should dress themselves in surgery whites!

Example two: Whether you pass regular inspection (Dutch: APK controle) is pretty much dependent upon how clean your vehicle is! (Along with their opinion of you and your nationality.)

Example three: Appearantly the priority here is first cleaning and than being operational, and that also holds for ... the HIGHWAY! Causing traffic jams is less worrying than unclean highways (I'm not talking about small roads, no, I'm talking about driving 120 km/hour next to a cleaning machine which drives 20 km/hour).

Vervolg: Zwitsers Stug?

Vervolg op voorgaande log: Zijn Zwitsers stug?

Vandaag zat ik de tram en reisde van centraal station (SBB) naar het duiste station (Bad. Bahnhof), dus van zuid naar noord door bijna geheel Basel. Het was druk en ik ik keek eens goed om me heen, of beter gezegd, ik was verbaasd over de sfeer en vooral over het vele geluid. Iedereen praatte met elkaar en je kan gerust zeggen: wat een kippehok.

Toen dacht ik, de laaste keer dat ik Amsterdam met de tram reisde was het ook druk, maar toen zweeg iedereen. Veel sjagreinige mensen die hun uiterste best deden om elke blik te ontwijken. Ja, in Amsterdam ga je in de tram je niet zomaar een gesprek aan met een vreemde. Maar, hoe zit dat dan hier in Basel?

Zo denkende concentreerde ik mij op twee mensen die vlak achter mij zaten: hij kwam toch later in de tram of kende hij haar al en kwamen zij elkaar toevallig tegen? Bij het afscheid nemen werd het mij inderdaad duidelijk: zij kenden elkaar niet en hadden gewoon een praatje aangeknoopt. Gewoon? Ja, wat is er mis om je vrolijkheid te delen. Dat lijkt mij meer gewoon (of gezond) dan een half uur lang naar een stuk ijzer van de tram te kijken.

De volgende keer ga ik ook maar eens wat bewuster naar mijn eigen houding kijken, een reis van een half uur is toch veel leuker als je even kan babbelen!

worst verbroederd (bonding through sausages)

Elke keer weer hoor je het: Zwitserse mensen zijn stug in de omgang, niet spontaan en afstandelijk (kijk maar bijvoorbeeld op zwitserlandforum.nl). Ik begrijp die discussie eigenlijk niet.

Op dit moment vindt in Basel de 'Herbstmesse' plaats (op alle voorname pleinen in Basel is er feest, veelal kermis) en daar zijn ook veel eettentjes, waaronder de kenmerkende worsten. Kortom, om aan de verleiding toe te geven om naast het biertje ook een worstje te nemen is voor mij onontkoombaar.

Dus lekker genietend van deze vette versnapering (ik was op dat moment alleen) schuift opeens een aardige zwitser aan bij mijn borreltafeltje (terwijl er nog vele andere lege zijn) en begint SPONTAAN te praten. Enigzins verrast realiseerde ik mij later pas dat dit voor mij de eerste keer was dat ik een a small talk conversatie in het duits had.

Nooit gedacht dat de worst aanleiding zou kunnen zijn voor een gezellig sociaal en spontaan babbeltje.

------------------------------------- English Version -----------------------------------
You hear it time and again: the Swiss are rigid, not spontaneous and distant people (frequent discussion topic on zwitserlandforum.nl). I don't get this discussion.

Right now, the "Herbstmesse" is going on in Basel (festivities on all of the major squares in the city, mostly fairs) with lots of food stands, including the ever-present sausages. For me, there's no resisting the temptation to have a sausage to go with my beer....

So, while I was enjoying one of these fat-filled tasty treats (on my own) a nice Swiss guy pulled up to my bar table (while there were lots of other empty tables) and started talking to me. SPONTANEOUSLY. A little surprised, I did't realize until later that this was the first time I had had a'"small talk" conversation in German.

Never thought that sausage could cause spontaneous social conversation.