Nothing says America like mayo and ketchup in the same tube....weird....
But I am excited about trying these....
And these...bought this last week.
Friday, July 10, 2009
Aldi celebrates 4th of July...a week too late.
I came home from work today and found an Aldi sale in my mailbox. I noticed on the front it said "Amerika-Woche be ALDI SUISSE." Naturally I was intrigued by America week so I flipped through the ad. And this is what I found....
Nothing says America like mayo and ketchup in the same tube....weird....
But I am excited about trying these....
And these...bought this last week.
Nothing says America like mayo and ketchup in the same tube....weird....
But I am excited about trying these....
And these...bought this last week.
Monday, July 6, 2009
Des Moines
Note: This post is not about Zurich
Most people know that I really like Des Moines, Iowa. I went to college there for 3.5 years and discovered the great things about small city life.
I booked a flight home for Chirstmas and I'm also planning a trip back to visit friends in Des Moines. The last few days I've been reading a lot about all of the great new developments going on in the city.
I discovered a great website/blog (www.livingdowntowndesmoines.com).
Coming from the Chicago area, I decided to go to Drake because of the actuarial program, the small size of the school, and the great scholarships that they offered me. I never expected to like living in Des Moines.
Des Moines is one of those cities where you need to find your niche...but once you do there's so much to do! I'm used to driving a car, but I hate traffic and can't parallel park to save my life. One day when I was fairly new to the city I had a job interview in downtown Des Moines at 9am on a weekday. It was just a few miles from my apartment, but I though "rush" hour...better leave at least 30 minutes to get there. Well, I was there in under 10. People from Des Moines complained that the new shopping mall was SOOOO far away. It was a 15 minute drive. :-) You could really get anywhere in the Des Moines area in under 15 minutes and never had to worry about traffic.
Since I started college and even more since I left Des Moines, the city has seen many new developments.
This began with the new Jordan Creek mall and the nearby West Glen town center. There have also been lots of new developments downtown. When I moved there in 2003 I couldn't believe how dead the downtown was on the weekends. It was a place people went to work during the week and that was it. That is all changing. They're building brownstones, lofts, condos, and many new apartments. New restauraunts are moving into the area and there's a downtown Farmer's Market. They've been doing a lot of work on the downtown river walk and there's now a skating rink and a new pedestrian/bike bridge opening soon.
I love trying new restauraunts and for a small city, Des Moines had a surprising number of amazing places to eat....from thai and indian on the east side to the La Mie Bakery to some of the best steak and lobster I've ever had at 801.
Des Moines is still one of the cheapest places to live and it's getting nicer and nicer every day.
I really want to move back there one day. :-)
Most people know that I really like Des Moines, Iowa. I went to college there for 3.5 years and discovered the great things about small city life.
I booked a flight home for Chirstmas and I'm also planning a trip back to visit friends in Des Moines. The last few days I've been reading a lot about all of the great new developments going on in the city.
I discovered a great website/blog (www.livingdowntowndesmoines.com).
Coming from the Chicago area, I decided to go to Drake because of the actuarial program, the small size of the school, and the great scholarships that they offered me. I never expected to like living in Des Moines.
Des Moines is one of those cities where you need to find your niche...but once you do there's so much to do! I'm used to driving a car, but I hate traffic and can't parallel park to save my life. One day when I was fairly new to the city I had a job interview in downtown Des Moines at 9am on a weekday. It was just a few miles from my apartment, but I though "rush" hour...better leave at least 30 minutes to get there. Well, I was there in under 10. People from Des Moines complained that the new shopping mall was SOOOO far away. It was a 15 minute drive. :-) You could really get anywhere in the Des Moines area in under 15 minutes and never had to worry about traffic.
Since I started college and even more since I left Des Moines, the city has seen many new developments.
This began with the new Jordan Creek mall and the nearby West Glen town center. There have also been lots of new developments downtown. When I moved there in 2003 I couldn't believe how dead the downtown was on the weekends. It was a place people went to work during the week and that was it. That is all changing. They're building brownstones, lofts, condos, and many new apartments. New restauraunts are moving into the area and there's a downtown Farmer's Market. They've been doing a lot of work on the downtown river walk and there's now a skating rink and a new pedestrian/bike bridge opening soon.
I love trying new restauraunts and for a small city, Des Moines had a surprising number of amazing places to eat....from thai and indian on the east side to the La Mie Bakery to some of the best steak and lobster I've ever had at 801.
Des Moines is still one of the cheapest places to live and it's getting nicer and nicer every day.
I really want to move back there one day. :-)
Riding my bike
When I lived in the northwest suburbs of Chicago I lived just about 3 miles from work. A little too far to walk, but an easy distance for a bike ride. I frequently rode my bike to and from work and actually saved a lot of money on gas. There were back roads with bike trails that I took most of the way. Problem is, in Schaumburg, people aren't used to bikers on the trails and I nearly got hit by cars coming out of driveways a few times too many.
Riding my bike in Zurich is still a little scary, but I like that people in cars are used to bikers. For the last few months I've been taking the tram 11 to work. It's just 9 minutes and runs pretty frequently, but I decided to ride my bike the other day and realized that it takes the same amount of time to ride my bike and it's a very flat ride. I've been riding my bike every day ever since. :-)
In Schaumburg every once in a while I would go grocery shopping with my bike. The store was under a mile away from my apartment, but when I got there there was absolutely nowhere to lock up my bike. I had to resort to locking it to no parking or handicap signs. Today I rode my bike to the Aldi and parked it in the bike rack just outside the store. When I got out there were no less than 8 other bikes parked there. LOVE it!
Today I rode my bike to work and had some errands to run after work. I rode home, grabbed my recycling, rode to the glass deposit bins, rode to the post office to pick up a package, stopped at home to drop off the package, went to the Aldi, stopped at the UBS ATM, and was home in just over an hour from leaving work. Awesome!
Riding my bike in Zurich is still a little scary, but I like that people in cars are used to bikers. For the last few months I've been taking the tram 11 to work. It's just 9 minutes and runs pretty frequently, but I decided to ride my bike the other day and realized that it takes the same amount of time to ride my bike and it's a very flat ride. I've been riding my bike every day ever since. :-)
In Schaumburg every once in a while I would go grocery shopping with my bike. The store was under a mile away from my apartment, but when I got there there was absolutely nowhere to lock up my bike. I had to resort to locking it to no parking or handicap signs. Today I rode my bike to the Aldi and parked it in the bike rack just outside the store. When I got out there were no less than 8 other bikes parked there. LOVE it!
Today I rode my bike to work and had some errands to run after work. I rode home, grabbed my recycling, rode to the glass deposit bins, rode to the post office to pick up a package, stopped at home to drop off the package, went to the Aldi, stopped at the UBS ATM, and was home in just over an hour from leaving work. Awesome!
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Observations
I think th-at I have a love-hate relationship with Zurich.
I complain about a lot of silly things and I'm still adjusting to how expensinve things are, but in the end I really do love it here.
Today, for example, I planned to go rollerblading with some people from one of the Expat groups. I'm not sure what happened, but I ended up renting rollerblades and being in the wrong place at the wrong time and not finding the group. I decided since I had the rollerblades I'd try it out on my own. First of all, it was so cool that I was able to rent rollerblades complete with a helmet and wrist, elbow, and knee pads, from the maintrain station. (http://www.sbx.ch/) At 25 CHF for the whole day or 20 CHF for a half day it really wasn't a bad deal. I rode along the lake trying to avoid cobblestones and had a great time. When I was starting out I was going really slowly over some bumps in the pavement and this old man smiled at me and said "nicht so schnell" joking about how slow I was going. :-) I went almost to Ruschlikon, where I used to live and remembered how gorgeous it was there. I took off my blades just in time to catch my old bus back to Burkliplatz and hop on my favorite Tram 11 back to the station to return the skates.
It was about 8:30pm and I was wishing that the grocery stores were open because I pretty much had nothing at the apartment. I remembered that the Migros at the airport was open until at least 9 and luckily there was a train leaving 2 minutes later.
That's one thing I love about Zurich....the trains are AMAZING and almost always on time.
I honestly don't think I will be able to handle taking the CTA anymore if and when I move back to Chicago in a few years... Maybe if the Olympics do come to Chicago they'll work on making the publich transit system a little bit better.
I got to the airport in enought time to pick up a few things I needed from the Migros and head home. One of my coworkers told me that you're either a Migros person or a Coop person. (The 2 big grocery stores out here.) Although I'm still a coupon clipper at heart and like to read the sales that come in the mail and sometimes shop at Otto's, Aldi, and Lidl, I'm definitely a Coop person. I've found that a lot of the Coop store brand stuff is really good and pretty cheap. Their strawberry yogurt especially! My apartment is about equidistand from a big Migros and a big Coop but if I have the choice and unless I'm standing right infront of the Migros, I always go to the Coop. One thing that really bugs me about the Migros is that they put the prices on the items. That sounds nice, but the thing is that the prices are ONLY on the items. Nowhere on the shelf, unless something is on sale, do they put the price. Everytime I go to Migros I have to pick up every item, turn it over and over trying to find the tiny black lettering where they put the price. This is especially annoying with frozen items where I find myself constandly opening the freezer door, taking something out and trying to find that tiny little price.
It still bugs me that most stores close at 6:30 or 8 on weekdays, but in some ways it does make evenings a little more relaxing when you're not running out to the store at midnight.
In other ways, I feel like sometimes I'm planning my life around when stores are open or when I was able to sign up for the one washing machine in my building.
On the other hand there are so many things that I absolutely love about Zurich. I love that I live on the outskirts of the city, but I'm just a 7 minute train ride to the main train station. I love that it only takes 10 minutes to get from the main train station to the airport. I really love that Zurich is a small compact city, but really feels like a big city. There are more concerts and cultural events than I have time to see. Everytime I talk to a coworker or check out someone's blog or read about the city I add something else to my list of restaurants to try or places to visit. I've been here 3 months and I feel like I could be here for at least another year and still have plenty more exploring to do just in Zurich. I also really love how close Zurich is to everywhere in Europe. I can take a 3 hour train ride and be anywhere in Switzerland. I've taken a night trian and be in Vienna, a 4 hour train ride to Paris, and a 2 hour flight to Dublin.
My family is looking into a trip to Egypt in November. I looked into flights in Chicago and it's looking like 17-23 hours of travel with long layovers and really early or late flight times. From Zurich to Cairo for under $600 you can take a 4 hour flight direct to Cairo at a normal time of day. That's just cool!
I complain about a lot of silly things and I'm still adjusting to how expensinve things are, but in the end I really do love it here.
Today, for example, I planned to go rollerblading with some people from one of the Expat groups. I'm not sure what happened, but I ended up renting rollerblades and being in the wrong place at the wrong time and not finding the group. I decided since I had the rollerblades I'd try it out on my own. First of all, it was so cool that I was able to rent rollerblades complete with a helmet and wrist, elbow, and knee pads, from the maintrain station. (http://www.sbx.ch/) At 25 CHF for the whole day or 20 CHF for a half day it really wasn't a bad deal. I rode along the lake trying to avoid cobblestones and had a great time. When I was starting out I was going really slowly over some bumps in the pavement and this old man smiled at me and said "nicht so schnell" joking about how slow I was going. :-) I went almost to Ruschlikon, where I used to live and remembered how gorgeous it was there. I took off my blades just in time to catch my old bus back to Burkliplatz and hop on my favorite Tram 11 back to the station to return the skates.
It was about 8:30pm and I was wishing that the grocery stores were open because I pretty much had nothing at the apartment. I remembered that the Migros at the airport was open until at least 9 and luckily there was a train leaving 2 minutes later.
That's one thing I love about Zurich....the trains are AMAZING and almost always on time.
I honestly don't think I will be able to handle taking the CTA anymore if and when I move back to Chicago in a few years... Maybe if the Olympics do come to Chicago they'll work on making the publich transit system a little bit better.
I got to the airport in enought time to pick up a few things I needed from the Migros and head home. One of my coworkers told me that you're either a Migros person or a Coop person. (The 2 big grocery stores out here.) Although I'm still a coupon clipper at heart and like to read the sales that come in the mail and sometimes shop at Otto's, Aldi, and Lidl, I'm definitely a Coop person. I've found that a lot of the Coop store brand stuff is really good and pretty cheap. Their strawberry yogurt especially! My apartment is about equidistand from a big Migros and a big Coop but if I have the choice and unless I'm standing right infront of the Migros, I always go to the Coop. One thing that really bugs me about the Migros is that they put the prices on the items. That sounds nice, but the thing is that the prices are ONLY on the items. Nowhere on the shelf, unless something is on sale, do they put the price. Everytime I go to Migros I have to pick up every item, turn it over and over trying to find the tiny black lettering where they put the price. This is especially annoying with frozen items where I find myself constandly opening the freezer door, taking something out and trying to find that tiny little price.
It still bugs me that most stores close at 6:30 or 8 on weekdays, but in some ways it does make evenings a little more relaxing when you're not running out to the store at midnight.
In other ways, I feel like sometimes I'm planning my life around when stores are open or when I was able to sign up for the one washing machine in my building.
On the other hand there are so many things that I absolutely love about Zurich. I love that I live on the outskirts of the city, but I'm just a 7 minute train ride to the main train station. I love that it only takes 10 minutes to get from the main train station to the airport. I really love that Zurich is a small compact city, but really feels like a big city. There are more concerts and cultural events than I have time to see. Everytime I talk to a coworker or check out someone's blog or read about the city I add something else to my list of restaurants to try or places to visit. I've been here 3 months and I feel like I could be here for at least another year and still have plenty more exploring to do just in Zurich. I also really love how close Zurich is to everywhere in Europe. I can take a 3 hour train ride and be anywhere in Switzerland. I've taken a night trian and be in Vienna, a 4 hour train ride to Paris, and a 2 hour flight to Dublin.
My family is looking into a trip to Egypt in November. I looked into flights in Chicago and it's looking like 17-23 hours of travel with long layovers and really early or late flight times. From Zurich to Cairo for under $600 you can take a 4 hour flight direct to Cairo at a normal time of day. That's just cool!
Monday, June 1, 2009
Dublin
I just saw that my Trip Advisor Travel Map says that I've visited 94 cities in 18 countries. 18 countries sounds like a lot, but there are still so many places that I want to go! I'm hoping to plan some trips soon to Norway, Sweden, Denmark, and Finland. I also really want to go to Russia and I still haven't been to Mexico, Central America, South America, Africa, Asia, Australia, or New Zealand, or even Texas for that matter.
I spent the last few days in Dublin. I flew from Nice to Dublin with Elizabeth where we met up with some of my friends from Schaumburg: Mauro, Jenny, and Peising (who now lives in LA).
My whole trip was great, but Dublin was by far my favorite city of the trip. As soon as we arrived I felt at home and I LOVED how friendly everyone was. I overheard a woman on the plane saying that a friend once told her that the Irish weren't friendly, they were just really nosy. :-) Either way, it was a refreshing change from Zurich. Don't get me wrong, I love living in Zurich, but I really miss people smiling at you as you walk down the street and letting you ahead of them out a train door instead of just pushing through like you're not even there.
Even the guy checking our passports was super-friendly. "Slowinski....that's not Irish. Do you have any Irish in you? There's lots of Irish in Chicago. You know Mr. Obama has a bit of Irish in him."
When I arrived back in Zurich the man checking my passport saw my US pasport, stared me down, mumbled something quietly, stared at me again, stamped my passport, and then let me through.
We did a lot in Dublin, but what I really liked the most was the atmosphere and the people. I just felt completely at home there.
I spent the last few days in Dublin. I flew from Nice to Dublin with Elizabeth where we met up with some of my friends from Schaumburg: Mauro, Jenny, and Peising (who now lives in LA).
My whole trip was great, but Dublin was by far my favorite city of the trip. As soon as we arrived I felt at home and I LOVED how friendly everyone was. I overheard a woman on the plane saying that a friend once told her that the Irish weren't friendly, they were just really nosy. :-) Either way, it was a refreshing change from Zurich. Don't get me wrong, I love living in Zurich, but I really miss people smiling at you as you walk down the street and letting you ahead of them out a train door instead of just pushing through like you're not even there.
Even the guy checking our passports was super-friendly. "Slowinski....that's not Irish. Do you have any Irish in you? There's lots of Irish in Chicago. You know Mr. Obama has a bit of Irish in him."
When I arrived back in Zurich the man checking my passport saw my US pasport, stared me down, mumbled something quietly, stared at me again, stamped my passport, and then let me through.
We did a lot in Dublin, but what I really liked the most was the atmosphere and the people. I just felt completely at home there.
May trip parts I and II: Cinque Terre and Nice
For the last week I've been traveling around Europe meeting up with friends from the US.
I think that one of my favorite things about living here is not really being in Zurich, itself, but just being in the center of Europe and being able to visit so many other places in Europe. This past week I was able to meet up with 3 different groups of friends and travel to 3 different countries. I'd never be able to do anything like that living in the US.
Another thing about living in Zurich is that everywhere else that I travel seems SO cheap. I think I'm going to go a little crazy shopping when I come back to the US in August....good thing it's only for a few days. :-)
I had a bagel and a smoothie our first morning in Dublin! 2 things that I can never find in Zurich.
I had never been to the south of France, only Paris, so I was really excited to go to Nice. It was a small city, but there was so much to see: great museums, markets, restauraunts, etc.
In Nice I meet up with Elizabeth, a fellow Chicago actuary from Drake, and her sister.
Our first night there we went to dinner at a restaurant recommended by my Let's Go Europe book as being "cheap authentic cuisine." It was this tiny little place that sat about 20 people. Elizabeth and I decided to try something different. She ordered sausage with intestines and stomach (of what we weren't really sure :-)) and I ordered tripe (stomach). It was actually really good!
I think that one of my favorite things about living here is not really being in Zurich, itself, but just being in the center of Europe and being able to visit so many other places in Europe. This past week I was able to meet up with 3 different groups of friends and travel to 3 different countries. I'd never be able to do anything like that living in the US.
Another thing about living in Zurich is that everywhere else that I travel seems SO cheap. I think I'm going to go a little crazy shopping when I come back to the US in August....good thing it's only for a few days. :-)
I had a bagel and a smoothie our first morning in Dublin! 2 things that I can never find in Zurich.
Over the past week I spent a few days in the Cinque Terre in Italy, another few days in Nice, France, and then spent the last 4 days in Dublin. Cinque Terre was absolutely beautiful and the weather was amazing.
I had never been to the south of France, only Paris, so I was really excited to go to Nice. It was a small city, but there was so much to see: great museums, markets, restauraunts, etc.
In Nice I meet up with Elizabeth, a fellow Chicago actuary from Drake, and her sister.
Here are the Barclays (Elizabeth and Emily) while we were waiting out the sun shower...luckily that was the worst of the weather the whole trip:
Our first night there we went to dinner at a restaurant recommended by my Let's Go Europe book as being "cheap authentic cuisine." It was this tiny little place that sat about 20 people. Elizabeth and I decided to try something different. She ordered sausage with intestines and stomach (of what we weren't really sure :-)) and I ordered tripe (stomach). It was actually really good!
Elizabeth's sausage:
My tasty meal:
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Nalgene bottles
I've been really bad at updating this thing....
There are so many stories, but not enough time to write them.
There are a lot of things that I want to remember, but after talking on Skype and sending some emails, I never have the motivation to write in my blog.
On my way to my new apartment today I saw a Domino's pizza. I thought that was pretty funny to see here, but I though...I might want to get pizza from there sometime...if I ever miss home...not that Domino's is in any way the best pizza from home...
I looked at their website today and noticed they didn't have any prices and all of the pizzas are different! They don't have just simple cheese, sausage and peperoni pizzas. They have all of theise crazy pizzas with stuff I've never even heard of, and even one with raclette cheese. Oh, Switzerland...
It cracks me up the random things that are different here than in the US.
THe other day I brought my Camelbak water bottle in to work...it's one of the ones with the straw attached to the lid...pretty standard nalgene-type water bottle. My coworkers stared at it like it was the craziest thing they'd ever seen.
Today I stopped at my new apartment after work and ran into my coworker Marco at the Oerlikon train station....we were taking the same train. We were sitting across from each other and all of a sudden he starts staring at my work bag. He sees my water bottle attached with a caribeener and has this quizical look on his face. He asked if that was made especially for the water bottle. I told him in the US everyone has water bottles that they hook onto their backpacks, gym bags, etc. He said he'd never seen anything like that but that it was "sehr praktisch." :-)
I swear I should open up an REI in Zurich. I'd make a gold mine on bike/ski gear...and caribeeners and nalgene bottles...
There are so many stories, but not enough time to write them.
There are a lot of things that I want to remember, but after talking on Skype and sending some emails, I never have the motivation to write in my blog.
On my way to my new apartment today I saw a Domino's pizza. I thought that was pretty funny to see here, but I though...I might want to get pizza from there sometime...if I ever miss home...not that Domino's is in any way the best pizza from home...
I looked at their website today and noticed they didn't have any prices and all of the pizzas are different! They don't have just simple cheese, sausage and peperoni pizzas. They have all of theise crazy pizzas with stuff I've never even heard of, and even one with raclette cheese. Oh, Switzerland...
It cracks me up the random things that are different here than in the US.
THe other day I brought my Camelbak water bottle in to work...it's one of the ones with the straw attached to the lid...pretty standard nalgene-type water bottle. My coworkers stared at it like it was the craziest thing they'd ever seen.
Today I stopped at my new apartment after work and ran into my coworker Marco at the Oerlikon train station....we were taking the same train. We were sitting across from each other and all of a sudden he starts staring at my work bag. He sees my water bottle attached with a caribeener and has this quizical look on his face. He asked if that was made especially for the water bottle. I told him in the US everyone has water bottles that they hook onto their backpacks, gym bags, etc. He said he'd never seen anything like that but that it was "sehr praktisch." :-)
I swear I should open up an REI in Zurich. I'd make a gold mine on bike/ski gear...and caribeeners and nalgene bottles...
Monday, March 16, 2009
zur Arbeit
Today was my first day of work.
I already hate my commute, but I'm really happy that I decided to look for apartments near the office...I was really spoiled by my 7 minute drive in Schaumburg!
I took my bus, from my favorite bus stop (across the street from the Lindt factory!) to downtown and transfered to the tram that goes to the office. Going through downtonw I've never seen so many people wearing suits. I also noticed that unlike in the US, only a few people were playing with their blackberries/iphones and it was super quiet.There was also nobody drinking coffee or eating.
I got to the office and was able to check in all in German. Hans was out of the office, so Marco came down and met me. He took me to meet everyone in actuarial and risk management. I remembered most of the names of people I had met in November. I was really happy that I was able to go most of the day speaking only German!
There was a vase of beautiful flowers at my desk, which made me smile. "Die Blumen sind fuer Sie," Marco told me. There was also a copy of "Foundations of Casualty Actuarial Science" with the chapter on loss reserving tabbed.
Since I couldn't do much on my computer I spent most of the day reading that and studying....and enjoying hearing my coworkers speaking in German and randomly hearing "loss reserves," "expected loss ratio," "richtige buchen", and "IBNR."
I still have a lot of computer issues....my computer arrived at 10am with a US keyboard...although it was set to the German keys, so I kept switching the z and y. Thanks to Alex, who sits across from me,we got that taken care of and now I have a German and an American keyboard, so I can decide which one I prefer. I still can't access my work email and I don't have a phone or ResQ or SAS, but we did get my printers set up. I dind't get a chance to take my picture for my ID...apparently they only do that 30 minutes/day...go figure.
At lunch we were talking CSC and the ticket numbers for setting up the printer and the email, etc. It's funny that you have the same technical/computer problems when starting a new job no matter where you are.
I already hate my commute, but I'm really happy that I decided to look for apartments near the office...I was really spoiled by my 7 minute drive in Schaumburg!
I took my bus, from my favorite bus stop (across the street from the Lindt factory!) to downtown and transfered to the tram that goes to the office. Going through downtonw I've never seen so many people wearing suits. I also noticed that unlike in the US, only a few people were playing with their blackberries/iphones and it was super quiet.There was also nobody drinking coffee or eating.
I got to the office and was able to check in all in German. Hans was out of the office, so Marco came down and met me. He took me to meet everyone in actuarial and risk management. I remembered most of the names of people I had met in November. I was really happy that I was able to go most of the day speaking only German!
There was a vase of beautiful flowers at my desk, which made me smile. "Die Blumen sind fuer Sie," Marco told me. There was also a copy of "Foundations of Casualty Actuarial Science" with the chapter on loss reserving tabbed.
Since I couldn't do much on my computer I spent most of the day reading that and studying....and enjoying hearing my coworkers speaking in German and randomly hearing "loss reserves," "expected loss ratio," "richtige buchen", and "IBNR."
I still have a lot of computer issues....my computer arrived at 10am with a US keyboard...although it was set to the German keys, so I kept switching the z and y. Thanks to Alex, who sits across from me,we got that taken care of and now I have a German and an American keyboard, so I can decide which one I prefer. I still can't access my work email and I don't have a phone or ResQ or SAS, but we did get my printers set up. I dind't get a chance to take my picture for my ID...apparently they only do that 30 minutes/day...go figure.
At lunch we were talking CSC and the ticket numbers for setting up the printer and the email, etc. It's funny that you have the same technical/computer problems when starting a new job no matter where you are.
Friday, March 13, 2009
settling in
I managed to get all of my bags and gave my mom a quick call to let her know I was there and to test out my phone. Unfortunately I missed Florent's call while I was on the phone with her. He called back again, but I couldn't answer because I was at customs getting Klondike checked out. Everything went smoothly,but I did have to pay 88 CHF import tax for him.
I finally got in touch with Florent and he met me in a cab. We spoke mostly German on the way to my apartment which was really cool. He helped me carry my bags in and made the cab wait until I got settled. We then took the cab to the train station and he showed me which train I woudl take to work. He also bought me a train ticket, which actually turned out to be the wrong ticket...those machines are so confusing!...but I got that sorted out.
I had a great weekend getting settled in and walking around. I got some groceries in Ruschlikon and realized that they don't sell aluminum foil, ziploc bags, or dryer sheets...but I made due.
I looked at 2 apartments on Friday and I am really hoping that I get the first one. It's available April 1st, it's a really big 2 bedroom, by Zurich standards, and it's only a 10 minute train ride or 25 minute walk from the office and it's close to the Aldi, and Coop, and other shopping. It's walking distance from a big train station in Oerlikon and close to neu Oerlikon which is a cool new area that used to be all industrial.
I really want that apartment!!!!
I also opened up a bank account at UBS on Friday so now I can say that I have a Swiss bank account. ;-) Actually 2 bank accounts and a credit card.
I went to the main UBS and everyone was wearing suits and they walked me down this hallway to a room where they offered me a cappucino...glad I said yes...that was probably one of the best cappucinos I've ever had...plus it came with a Sprungli chocolate. :-)
I finally got in touch with Florent and he met me in a cab. We spoke mostly German on the way to my apartment which was really cool. He helped me carry my bags in and made the cab wait until I got settled. We then took the cab to the train station and he showed me which train I woudl take to work. He also bought me a train ticket, which actually turned out to be the wrong ticket...those machines are so confusing!...but I got that sorted out.
I had a great weekend getting settled in and walking around. I got some groceries in Ruschlikon and realized that they don't sell aluminum foil, ziploc bags, or dryer sheets...but I made due.
I looked at 2 apartments on Friday and I am really hoping that I get the first one. It's available April 1st, it's a really big 2 bedroom, by Zurich standards, and it's only a 10 minute train ride or 25 minute walk from the office and it's close to the Aldi, and Coop, and other shopping. It's walking distance from a big train station in Oerlikon and close to neu Oerlikon which is a cool new area that used to be all industrial.
I really want that apartment!!!!
I also opened up a bank account at UBS on Friday so now I can say that I have a Swiss bank account. ;-) Actually 2 bank accounts and a credit card.
I went to the main UBS and everyone was wearing suits and they walked me down this hallway to a room where they offered me a cappucino...glad I said yes...that was probably one of the best cappucinos I've ever had...plus it came with a Sprungli chocolate. :-)
I'm in Switzerland!
Today is my second day in Switzerland and I thought it was about time for a post.
These 2 days have been pretty busy!
My journey to Switzerland got off to a shaky start trying to give Klondike benadryl before the trip. By the time I got all of my stuff ready we had just a little time before I wanted to leave for the airport to give Klondike the medicine to calm him down for the flight. My dad and I took him into the bathroom and tried to squirt the stuff in his mouth. I had done it once before and he didn't like it, but it worked well. This time it was really hard. He tried to squirm away and scratch and bite when we got near his mouth. He was also growling in this horrible gutteral way that just made me want to cry. We finally got him to take some and I think he bit his tongue because he started spitting out the medicine and what looked like blood as well. We got him into his carrier and were going to try to make a quick trip to the vet. There were so many things racing through my head. I thought, "Is he going to be ok?" "Will I be able to take him with me?" After a little while, though, he calmed down and there wasn't any more blood. We decided he would be ok and I kept an eye on him in the car.
We got out the door and were on our way when I realized that in my panicing about Klondkike I had left my phone with my Swiss sim card and my ipod behind....so we had to turn around.
Once we got going again we got stuck in traffic because of an accident. I was so afraid that I would miss my flight, but in the end we made it with time to spare.
I checked in at Swiss air and the woman behind the desk was allergic to cats so she stood really far back and seemed very unhappy with the whole situation, although I don't blame her. I had a little scare when they were all staring at my visa. I had to explain that I had a temporary visa until I registered with the city and got a residence permit. The cat lady gave me a scare when she told me that the wouldn't let me in the country if I kept my current itinerary with a return flight in August...because my visa was only good through May. Finally she explained that they just had to add another segment to my trip which showed me coming home in May, even though I wasn't booked on that plane nor did I pay for it. I was confused by that, but it ended up working out.
I left my parents at the security and with everything going on I really didn't have time to be sad about leaving. I got all of my carry ons and had quite a time getting everything in line for the x-ray machine. I kept telling people to go ahead of me. I had an incredibly heavy carry on suitcase, my violin/viola double case, a giant purse, a camera bag, a laptop, and a jacket....and a cat. I had to take Klondike out of the carrier and walk him through with me which amused everyone in line. I kept telling the man behind me to go ahead of me, but he was super nice and said he was in no hurry and even offered to help me get Klondike out of the carrier. One of the women working the x-ray maching was afraid of cats and kept looking at Klondike and taking a few steps back every time. "That's a huge cat!" she kept saying.
After I gathered all of my bags together I was ready for a drink. Luckily I was traveling business class, so I could go to the lounge. Unfortunately the lounge was very crowded, but I was able to find a seat. I couldn't quite relax, but I made myself 2 vodka cokes and felt a little better. :-) I was also impressed that Klondike wasn't making a sound.
The plane ride went very well. I sat next to a nice Austrian man. When I sat down I told him that I had a cat and he just smiled and said ok. About an hour before we landed the stewardess asked how the cat was doing and the man said "You're traveling with a cat? Is he in that bag?" He looked at Klondike and laughed. Apparently he didn't understand me when I told him at the start of the plane ride, but I guess he didn't bother him with his meowing.
Klondike was actually really quiet during the whole flight, but every once in a while he'd make some noise and I'd try to let him smell my hands outside the carrier. He went next to my feet, but I had some trouble reclining the seat and folding the leg rest out....I had to maneuver around. the cat carrier, but I eneded up putting the leg rest up with him underneath.
It was nice that the seats reclined so much, but they really weren't that comfortable. The food was very good, though and it was nice to have real plates and napkins.
When I arrived at the airport I couldn't get my phone to turn on. I started freaking out because I knew that Florent would be calling me and trying to find me at the airport. I finally took out the battery and luckily that did the trick.
tbc...
These 2 days have been pretty busy!
My journey to Switzerland got off to a shaky start trying to give Klondike benadryl before the trip. By the time I got all of my stuff ready we had just a little time before I wanted to leave for the airport to give Klondike the medicine to calm him down for the flight. My dad and I took him into the bathroom and tried to squirt the stuff in his mouth. I had done it once before and he didn't like it, but it worked well. This time it was really hard. He tried to squirm away and scratch and bite when we got near his mouth. He was also growling in this horrible gutteral way that just made me want to cry. We finally got him to take some and I think he bit his tongue because he started spitting out the medicine and what looked like blood as well. We got him into his carrier and were going to try to make a quick trip to the vet. There were so many things racing through my head. I thought, "Is he going to be ok?" "Will I be able to take him with me?" After a little while, though, he calmed down and there wasn't any more blood. We decided he would be ok and I kept an eye on him in the car.
We got out the door and were on our way when I realized that in my panicing about Klondkike I had left my phone with my Swiss sim card and my ipod behind....so we had to turn around.
Once we got going again we got stuck in traffic because of an accident. I was so afraid that I would miss my flight, but in the end we made it with time to spare.
I checked in at Swiss air and the woman behind the desk was allergic to cats so she stood really far back and seemed very unhappy with the whole situation, although I don't blame her. I had a little scare when they were all staring at my visa. I had to explain that I had a temporary visa until I registered with the city and got a residence permit. The cat lady gave me a scare when she told me that the wouldn't let me in the country if I kept my current itinerary with a return flight in August...because my visa was only good through May. Finally she explained that they just had to add another segment to my trip which showed me coming home in May, even though I wasn't booked on that plane nor did I pay for it. I was confused by that, but it ended up working out.
I left my parents at the security and with everything going on I really didn't have time to be sad about leaving. I got all of my carry ons and had quite a time getting everything in line for the x-ray machine. I kept telling people to go ahead of me. I had an incredibly heavy carry on suitcase, my violin/viola double case, a giant purse, a camera bag, a laptop, and a jacket....and a cat. I had to take Klondike out of the carrier and walk him through with me which amused everyone in line. I kept telling the man behind me to go ahead of me, but he was super nice and said he was in no hurry and even offered to help me get Klondike out of the carrier. One of the women working the x-ray maching was afraid of cats and kept looking at Klondike and taking a few steps back every time. "That's a huge cat!" she kept saying.
After I gathered all of my bags together I was ready for a drink. Luckily I was traveling business class, so I could go to the lounge. Unfortunately the lounge was very crowded, but I was able to find a seat. I couldn't quite relax, but I made myself 2 vodka cokes and felt a little better. :-) I was also impressed that Klondike wasn't making a sound.
The plane ride went very well. I sat next to a nice Austrian man. When I sat down I told him that I had a cat and he just smiled and said ok. About an hour before we landed the stewardess asked how the cat was doing and the man said "You're traveling with a cat? Is he in that bag?" He looked at Klondike and laughed. Apparently he didn't understand me when I told him at the start of the plane ride, but I guess he didn't bother him with his meowing.
Klondike was actually really quiet during the whole flight, but every once in a while he'd make some noise and I'd try to let him smell my hands outside the carrier. He went next to my feet, but I had some trouble reclining the seat and folding the leg rest out....I had to maneuver around. the cat carrier, but I eneded up putting the leg rest up with him underneath.
It was nice that the seats reclined so much, but they really weren't that comfortable. The food was very good, though and it was nice to have real plates and napkins.
When I arrived at the airport I couldn't get my phone to turn on. I started freaking out because I knew that Florent would be calling me and trying to find me at the airport. I finally took out the battery and luckily that did the trick.
tbc...
Monday, February 2, 2009
I bought my own ski boots this weekend! I'm really looking to going skiing this weekend, or this week sometime, to try them out. I was always afraid to try skiing, but the 3 days I've spent skiing this winter have been such a blast!! I wish I had discovered this sooner.
I can't wait to go skiing in the Alps!
I can't wait to go skiing in the Alps!
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
First Post!
I had a blog many years ago while I was living in London. Now that I'll be living in Switzerland for 2 years I wanted to start it up again.
I've never used blogger before, so we'll see how this goes!
I've never used blogger before, so we'll see how this goes!
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