Per Annum

We just passed the one-year mark of life in America.

To be honest, it’s a mixed-bag.

Working for Apple – very cool.
Working in Information Systems & Technology dept. – very lame.
Plenty of sunshine – awesome.
Having a car – fun.
Driving everywhere – depressing.
Cheap consumer goods – helpful/frightening.
Violent crime in neighbourhood – alarming.
Proximity to extended family – blessing.
Surrounded by English language – useful/dull.
“Wild” wilderness – amazing.
Bankrupted state/federal governments – frustrating

It’s very difficult not to compare it to both our life in Canada and our (brief) time in Switzerland. There was much that we loved in Europe, but there are aspects to California that also inspire and excite us.

But does that outweigh the negatives?

Time will tell.

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Our Little Actor

Liam has decided that he wants to be an actor when he grows up. And he’s already practicing…

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Welcome tuh mah haas

I’ve decided to try to fit in a bit more with my new surroundings.

I’ve stopped spelling English words correctly – gasp! What would my Queen say!

I now grudgingly spell “gray” instead of “grey”, and I have adapted to a host of other changes such as:

• analyze vs. analyse
• center vs. centre
• honor vs. honour
• check vs. cheque
• catalog vs. catalogue

But what can I do? I’m immersed in the overpowering cultural tsunami of Americana!

Hell, I’ve even started to pronounce words like them, just for fun!

I now sked-jool meetings to plan prah-jex or to improve prah-ssess.

But fear not, I still drop the inadvertent “eh” bomb often enough so that people know where I come from.

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Mmmmm…. America

After securing both a new car, and a new home, we decided to enjoy some fun in the sun on the Labor Day long weekend.

We grabbed our swimsuits and drove to the coastal town of Santa Cruz, home to a famous beach boardwalk that includes a vibrant and grimy amusement park.

I noticed a food stand offering nothing less than deep fried Twinkies. For real. As if the Twinkie isn’t bad enough on it’s own, you go and coat it in batter and then deep fry it in oil. It’s estimated to contain a whopping 425 calories of creamy, fluffy goodness.

And with that, I’m well on my way to fitting in with the “50% overweight” part of America (and busting out of my jeans).

Good grief… my enrolment with the Apple fitness centre can’t come soon enough!

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So. Much. Driving.

We spent (another) whole day in the car, navigating freeways and expressways and U-turns and traffic. It doesn’t stress me out at all, though. There are far more cars on the road than in Basel region, but I expected this.

Yet despite my expectations, I am still in shock and awe of the expansiveness of the highway and road systems here.

And today, in the blazing heat, we hit the DMV and then headed out to explore North San Jose.

Big mistake.

It’s basically ground zero for tech companies, such as Cisco, Symantec, Creative, Lockheed Martin and others, but there is no residential neighbourhoods. Big waste of time (although I was bubbling with excitement to see the names of various companies).

So the gruelling day continued with a few test drives of cars. The dealers were friendly and not pushy, but it was too hot out.

And after a cruise through downtown Mountain View (home of Google), we finally arrived “home” and I found this picture in my email inbox from a longtime friend and soon-to-be colleague (again), and it made all of the crappiness disappear.

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Blessed to be Canadian

Learning the local language is very important to us.  It never ceases to amaze me how many expats I meet who have been here for years and have yet to learn even basic German.  In their defense, it can be difficult to learn as most people in the cities speak fantastic English and with an expat community of over 30,000 people in Basel alone, it’s easy to surround yourself with nothing but English-speaking foreigners like yourself.  So the general yes/no (ja/nein), please/thank you (bitte/danke schön) and 1,2,3 (eins, zwei, drei) can get you remarkably far and before you know it, you’ve been here for two years and still don’t know how to say “how are you today?”. One: it’s a bit tricky (Wie geht es Ihnen?). Two: the expected German response would make no sense to you anyway.

The boys start Swiss public school in August and from all the stories we’ve read and parents we’ve talked to, they will be fluent in Swiss-German in less than six months. How that’s possible, I still have no idea but there is some psycho-babble reasoning for it, I’m sure.  Regardless, their going to come home yapping away in German and I’m sure it’ll only be a matter of time before I outlaw the language at the dinner table.  There’s just something incredibly wrong with your own kids being able to talk behind your back, right to your face.

And so I find myself in a weekly German class, learning a language that I truly have no desire to learn (let’s be honest…who would CHOOSE to learn German?).  And although it wouldn’t be my first choice (Italian?  Spanish? Better French? Anything!), I have to say that I’m enjoying the experience more and more as the weeks go by. Joining the class was also a chance to meet other women in the same boat as me but we were only ten minutes into the first class when I realized that our boats were in completely different oceans.  In fact, my boat was looking like a hundred foot yacht beside their inflatable dingy.

A simple question of What brings you to Basel? brought out amazing stories of personal triumph, hope for a better life and perseverance. Jemma, Jaenette, Jennifer, Marcell…beautiful women from all over the world, explaining how coming to Basel is their “new beginning” and their “chance for a future”.  I know I said something similar on this very blog. I spoke of coming to Basel as a “new beginning” — but not in the way these women spoke of.  One by one, they told their stories. Stories of oppression. Stories of being married for 20 years yet never living in the same city as their husbands who worked abroad to send money home. Tears came to my eyes and I was silently dreading my turn to share. What could I possibly say after this? My original answer of “we wanted to see Europe and give our kids a chance to experience another culture” suddenly became pompous and spoiled. Yes, we all chose to come to Basel, but my motivation was one of excitement and leisure. Theirs was survival.

That day in December will always stick with me. I think it was the first time this extremely-fortunate Canadian girl realized that what she thought she knew about hard times, she really didn’t know at all.

Stay tuned for Part Two: The Interview.

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Winter… must sleep…

So much snow.
So little sunshine.
Be back soon.

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Swissoddities

It’s been a while since my last post, and I’m afraid that the blog has turned into Natasha’s personal edition of “The Antique Road Show”.

There’s so much to say… here’s a collection of things that have surprised and amused me.

• I received mail from my Canadian bank, but the address listed my country as ‘Swaziland’. They operator on the telephone must have assumed the country code for Switzerland is ‘SW’. Thankfully, our postal code includes our country code.
• Swiss electrical circuits are the same power supply as the rest of Europe, but they have different outlet plugs that are unique. I went to Germany and purchased a toaster and an iron, only to then find out that I needed an adapter to plug them in here.
• Contextual ads on websites are now all in Deutsch as I surf the intarwebs.
• People from other countries are called ‘ex-pats’ if they are from first-world nations, or ‘immigrants’ of they are from third-world nations.
• If you own a radio or television, you must pay a “subscription” fee to the government. I think that it’s a few hundred Franks per year.

The Christmas Market is now in full swing. This is a big event in Switzerland (and Germany), and it’s the sort of thing that makes me love living here.

Many of the city squares are now jammed full of stalls of vendors selling all sorts of things – scarves & mittens, ornaments, hand-made treats, and this magical drink called Glüwein (pronounced: gloo-vine). It’s a warm, mulled wine, but I think that they add rum to it. It’s served in ceramic mugs, and people just wander the markets with these things in hand, or crowd around little high-top tables to drink them.

We chose to enjoy ours last night on a small rotating bar that was made from an old carousel. For real. The bar was in the middle, and we (with J&L) sat on the outside of this contraption, enjoying our warm bevvies and watching the lights around us.

So the Christmas season is upon us! I wonder what sorts of crazy Swiss Christmas traditions we will find?

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Going Black

“Lo, and then did the Black Death (influenza) descend upon us, and all was quiet (except for frequent coughing) for a long, long time.”

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Review: McFondue Burger

McDonald’s.

That perfect engine of convenience, addiction, child-marketing, and … regional specialty foods?

We’re in Switzerland, but McDonald’s is universal. They are everywhere.

As we walked by a local joint, I noticed a strange advert outside, featuring three “Swiss-style” burgers on sale for a limited time only.

The McFondue, the McRaclette and the McRösti. These are only available in Switzerland, and only for one week at a time (per burger).

We figured that it is our duty to try these local delicacies and report our findings to our family and friends back home in Canada, so here it goes…

First up is the McFondue.

Most of you are probably familiar with fondue – that gooey pot of melting cheese and white wine – into which you dip vegetables and eat until your heart explodes.

Now imagine that… on a McDonald’s hamburger! Awesome, right?

Here’s the facts:

Nutrition

	Big Mac*	McFondue
Calories (kcal)	495	760
Energy (kj)	2071	3180
Protein (g)	27	39
Carbs (g)	40	54
Fat (g)	25	43
Price (CHF)	6.50	7.90

*for comparison purposes only

Well, just from a nutritional point of view, the McFondue is clearly the chief burger.

So on to the ratings…

Presentation

Tim: This is a classic, greasy burger on a ciabatta bun. Greasy. I like a little oozey cheese coming out the sides, but showing too much makes you look easy.

Tasha: At first impression, this bun had seen better days. If I wanted to save fifty cents on a day-old bun, I’d be at the bakery, not McDonald’s.

Aroma

Tim: I enjoy the pungent tang of Emmental (aka “Swiss”) cheese, but this was a bit too much for my senses.

Tasha: The “pungent tang” that Tim so lovingly spoke of is better described as sheer stank. The only worse “aroma” would be this thing coming back up.

Flavour

Tim: I like ciabatta. I like beef. I like lotsa cheese. So why didn’t I love this burger? Mysteries of the Universe!

Tasha: Sorry, flavour? There was a flavour??

Texture

Tim: Oozing cheese is one thing, but when it is squished out the sides of a ciabatta bun that is so greasy that you can hear the grease oozing from the bun… that’s too much. Still, there is the fun factor…

Tasha: One bite was all I could muster down and even that was a challenge. I think this burger nearly pushed me over the brink into complete vegetarianism.  Nearly.

Overall, this burger comes out as … just gross.

Tim:

 

 

Tasha: This is one of those times you wish you had more thumbs…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Up next… McRösti!

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