Thursday, October 28, 2010
Zurich City (Take Two)
So it has come to my attention that I have been posting pictures the wrong way but have no fear, I have remedied the error in my technology savvy and so I hope you can now enjoy my [wonderful] photography!
These are all pictures of Zurich. Sorry if you have seen them before - if you haven't - Enjoy!
Ballenberg
 |
| Ballenberg |
Click the picture to link to the Picasa photo album!
On October 3, I went to an open-air museum called Ballenberg (yeah, I know I'm lazy for posting them a month late). To describe it, I'm going to copy and paste from their website (also because I'm lazy):
"Ballenberg – Switzerland as it used to be. More than one hundred century-old buildings from all over Switzerland, 250 farmyard animals, traditional, old-time gardens and fields, demonstrations of local crafts and many special events create a vivid impression of rural life in days gone by. Ballenberg is indeed unique."
I even added quotations so you can't accuse me of plagiarising (I had to google how to spell that too).
Basically, people donate old Swiss Chalets to the museum, who then carefully dis-assembles them and reconstructs them on their property. It gives people the opportunity to see old Chalets from all over the country in one place instead of running around the country like crazy disturbing the natives (let's be honest, it's something I would do) to see the architecture of the different regions. Anyways, I took a bajillion pictures (yes, that is a real number - ask Bill Gates, I think he has it in his bank account [which coincidentally is probably in Switzerland too]) and then posted them with captions from the brochures. It took me all afternoon and my fingers are about to fall off, so even if you don't read them all, read at least one of them so when I ask you, you can pretend that you read them all (and please at least try to sound interested). Then our friendship will be preserved much like these awesome jewels of historical Switzerland.
Enjoy! (I guess I'm not so lazy after all)
Sunday, October 24, 2010
I missed my train...twice...in a row.
I know that I normally have a really fun metaphor at the beginning of my blog that builds up the content of my post but unfortunately this time I don't. I actually did miss my train. Twice. In a row.
Here's the thing about Switzerland (if you didn't already know by national stereotypes), everything is on time. Always. Normally trains come every 20-30 mintues except during rush hour they come every 10-15 minutes. In my case the train came every 20 minutes. So, when I got to the train station and realized that I missed my train, I guess the concept didn't sink in that chances are if I came back in +20 minutes I would miss my train again. What a concept. So yes, to answer your question, I missed my train. Twice. In a row. The second time I missed the train I didn't leave the train station and sat there for 20 long minutes thinking about the consequences of my sheer stupidity.
So I've basically been here for two months (okokok, tomorrow marks the exact two months) and I kinda have a grasp on how things work here. Some I have learned from doing things right, some I have learned from doing things wrong, and some I have learned from other people. For example, you shouldn't say "Ich bin heiss" (I am hot) because it actually means that you are horny, you have to say "Ich habe heiss" (I have hot). This is very useful to know.
Well, friends (and random strangers who stumble upon my blog), here are some interesting things you should know about Switzerland. It's cold here.
Ok, I know, I'm having some writer's block. You'd think after three weeks of not posting anything that I'd have something to write about, but it turns out that when you live in a place long enough everything kinda evens out. The things that were weird when I got here are now normal...
EXCEPT THE LACK OF HALLOWEEN AND THANKSGIVING. You know how the USA has this great lineup of holidays? Labor Day, Halloween, Thanksgiving, St. Nicholas, Christmas, New Years, Three Kings Day, Valentine's Day? Yeah. Here we have Christmas and New Years. The decorations now are all Christmas decorations because it's getting cold and they have nothing to celebrate inbetween! It's crazy! I don't care what you say, but I am not ready for Christmas. There's no Starbucks on the corner to tell me what holiday I need to be celebrating based on their seasonal flavors. I have no Pumpkin Spice Latte, I have no Gingerbread Latte. How am I supposed to know what to celebrate if I don't have a giant corporate company brainwashing me into thinking I need these things in my life? I'm lost. There are leaves on the ground, but I see no pumpkins, I drink no spicey deliciousness. THEREFORE...
I DECLARE IT TO BE BRONCO MONTH. Since the Denver Broncos are playing the SF 49ers in London on October 31 (coincidentally Halloween and the team's color is orange...ironically the same as pumpkins) AND I happen to have tickets to the game, I declare it Bronco Month. So Switzerland can't knock down my holiday spirit bcause I have substituted it with something much better. Hopefully it won't let me down.
Woot.
Here's the thing about Switzerland (if you didn't already know by national stereotypes), everything is on time. Always. Normally trains come every 20-30 mintues except during rush hour they come every 10-15 minutes. In my case the train came every 20 minutes. So, when I got to the train station and realized that I missed my train, I guess the concept didn't sink in that chances are if I came back in +20 minutes I would miss my train again. What a concept. So yes, to answer your question, I missed my train. Twice. In a row. The second time I missed the train I didn't leave the train station and sat there for 20 long minutes thinking about the consequences of my sheer stupidity.
So I've basically been here for two months (okokok, tomorrow marks the exact two months) and I kinda have a grasp on how things work here. Some I have learned from doing things right, some I have learned from doing things wrong, and some I have learned from other people. For example, you shouldn't say "Ich bin heiss" (I am hot) because it actually means that you are horny, you have to say "Ich habe heiss" (I have hot). This is very useful to know.
Well, friends (and random strangers who stumble upon my blog), here are some interesting things you should know about Switzerland. It's cold here.
Ok, I know, I'm having some writer's block. You'd think after three weeks of not posting anything that I'd have something to write about, but it turns out that when you live in a place long enough everything kinda evens out. The things that were weird when I got here are now normal...
EXCEPT THE LACK OF HALLOWEEN AND THANKSGIVING. You know how the USA has this great lineup of holidays? Labor Day, Halloween, Thanksgiving, St. Nicholas, Christmas, New Years, Three Kings Day, Valentine's Day? Yeah. Here we have Christmas and New Years. The decorations now are all Christmas decorations because it's getting cold and they have nothing to celebrate inbetween! It's crazy! I don't care what you say, but I am not ready for Christmas. There's no Starbucks on the corner to tell me what holiday I need to be celebrating based on their seasonal flavors. I have no Pumpkin Spice Latte, I have no Gingerbread Latte. How am I supposed to know what to celebrate if I don't have a giant corporate company brainwashing me into thinking I need these things in my life? I'm lost. There are leaves on the ground, but I see no pumpkins, I drink no spicey deliciousness. THEREFORE...
I DECLARE IT TO BE BRONCO MONTH. Since the Denver Broncos are playing the SF 49ers in London on October 31 (coincidentally Halloween and the team's color is orange...ironically the same as pumpkins) AND I happen to have tickets to the game, I declare it Bronco Month. So Switzerland can't knock down my holiday spirit bcause I have substituted it with something much better. Hopefully it won't let me down.
Woot.
Thursday, October 7, 2010
Mission: Swiss Bank Account
Was passt nicht? - What doesn't match?
Cartier. Burberry. Chanel. UBS. Me.
You guessed it - ME. I do not fit in here. So today I went to (hopefully) get a Swiss bank account. I had an appointment at the main branch at the UBS bank in Zurich at 10am this morning. So I hop on the train to the Hauptbahnhof (Zurich main station) and in 10 minutes I am whisked downtown. I get off the train, meander my way through the train station and make my way towards Bahnhofstrasse.
For some of you that may not know, Bahnhofstrasse is one of the most expensive streets in the world. It is where all the high-end shopping takes place, photographs are taken, and money is spent. In order to have a store on this street you have to pay 10,000 CHF. per year PER SQUARE METER. Yeah. This isn't Hollywood Blvd. here. More like Rodeo Drive - on crack.
So I finally find my destination - Bahnhofstrasse 45 - dead smack between Cartier and Chanel and across the street from Burberry. Yes, at this point I already knew this was out of my league. All I wanted to do was deposit less that $1,000 in a bank account. So I head inside to the first floor where my appointment is supposedly to take place. After I am greeted by the receptionist and exchange words about my appointment, I am escorted down the hall to a private room (what is with Switzerland and these private rooms? In the USA a cubicle would suffice). Then my drink order is taken, so I just oder flat water (seriously, what happened to the communal bowl of lolipops?). The woman brings me back a personal tray with my bottled water, which she poured for me, and a little chocolate truffle wrapped nicely in a perfect size box. I'm thinking "Uh, I'm not here to open an account with millions, we're talking hundreds and with the exchange rate it will probably end up looking like cents...er Rappen"). So the banker lady finally comes in the room with all the paperwork in hand and we get down to business opening my account. I'm going to skip over the boring details about the interest rates (or lack there of - seiously, keep your 1/8th of one percent interest) and the fact that, oh yes, I have to pay 140 CHF every year to even have the account.
Internet Banking. Here's where things get interesting. Now in the USA, for internet banking you have a login name, which for most people is the same as the beginning of their email address, a simple security question whose answer can most likely be found on facebook, and a password which is probably the same as the one used to login to facebook. That's it.
With not much surprise, Switzerland takes it to a whole other level. You are given a special access card to acquire your online banking information. This card is then inserted into a card reader that is provided to you and is connected to your home computer. Once the card is inserted into the machine a special number is input into the card reader. A few seconds later a number is displayed on the card reader. This new number is then input at the time of the online bank login. This must be done every time your account is accessed and the input number always changes.
Talk about Mission: Impossible Internet Banking! I mean, I understand that my money is secure, but for ADHD people with broken object locators in their brains, this could result in securing my bank information even from myself.
Don't get me wrong, I totally feel like Ethan Hunt suspended from a harness in a crazy vault which is pretty awesome, but I have a feeling it won't be so awesome when I can't access my money. And if I can't, I'm sure you'll hear about it in my blog fit of rage.
But alas, I have a super duper secured bank account even though my name is probably on a United States watch list for the IRS.
Mission: Complete.
I hope this blog doesn't self-destruct before you share it with a friend.
Cartier. Burberry. Chanel. UBS. Me.
You guessed it - ME. I do not fit in here. So today I went to (hopefully) get a Swiss bank account. I had an appointment at the main branch at the UBS bank in Zurich at 10am this morning. So I hop on the train to the Hauptbahnhof (Zurich main station) and in 10 minutes I am whisked downtown. I get off the train, meander my way through the train station and make my way towards Bahnhofstrasse.
For some of you that may not know, Bahnhofstrasse is one of the most expensive streets in the world. It is where all the high-end shopping takes place, photographs are taken, and money is spent. In order to have a store on this street you have to pay 10,000 CHF. per year PER SQUARE METER. Yeah. This isn't Hollywood Blvd. here. More like Rodeo Drive - on crack.
So I finally find my destination - Bahnhofstrasse 45 - dead smack between Cartier and Chanel and across the street from Burberry. Yes, at this point I already knew this was out of my league. All I wanted to do was deposit less that $1,000 in a bank account. So I head inside to the first floor where my appointment is supposedly to take place. After I am greeted by the receptionist and exchange words about my appointment, I am escorted down the hall to a private room (what is with Switzerland and these private rooms? In the USA a cubicle would suffice). Then my drink order is taken, so I just oder flat water (seriously, what happened to the communal bowl of lolipops?). The woman brings me back a personal tray with my bottled water, which she poured for me, and a little chocolate truffle wrapped nicely in a perfect size box. I'm thinking "Uh, I'm not here to open an account with millions, we're talking hundreds and with the exchange rate it will probably end up looking like cents...er Rappen"). So the banker lady finally comes in the room with all the paperwork in hand and we get down to business opening my account. I'm going to skip over the boring details about the interest rates (or lack there of - seiously, keep your 1/8th of one percent interest) and the fact that, oh yes, I have to pay 140 CHF every year to even have the account.
Internet Banking. Here's where things get interesting. Now in the USA, for internet banking you have a login name, which for most people is the same as the beginning of their email address, a simple security question whose answer can most likely be found on facebook, and a password which is probably the same as the one used to login to facebook. That's it.
With not much surprise, Switzerland takes it to a whole other level. You are given a special access card to acquire your online banking information. This card is then inserted into a card reader that is provided to you and is connected to your home computer. Once the card is inserted into the machine a special number is input into the card reader. A few seconds later a number is displayed on the card reader. This new number is then input at the time of the online bank login. This must be done every time your account is accessed and the input number always changes.
Talk about Mission: Impossible Internet Banking! I mean, I understand that my money is secure, but for ADHD people with broken object locators in their brains, this could result in securing my bank information even from myself.
Don't get me wrong, I totally feel like Ethan Hunt suspended from a harness in a crazy vault which is pretty awesome, but I have a feeling it won't be so awesome when I can't access my money. And if I can't, I'm sure you'll hear about it in my blog fit of rage.
But alas, I have a super duper secured bank account even though my name is probably on a United States watch list for the IRS.
Mission: Complete.
I hope this blog doesn't self-destruct before you share it with a friend.
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
I tried to Ford the River but my Oxen Drown
So for those of you unfamiliar with Oregon Trail - your life is inadequate. You should try to get your hands on a copy as fast as humanly possible.
Oregon trail is a classic computer game that was invented about the time of Frogger on the DOS computer system. If you are unfamiliar with Frogger then stop reading my blog entirely because we have nothing in common and I no longer know how to relate to you. So, again, back to Oregon Trail. The game was set in the American midwest in the early something 00's. The point of the game was to get you, your wife and three children, and two oxen safely across the midwest in a wagon. Along the way you have to pace yourself, hunt for food, battle diseases, purchase or trade certain necessities, etc. The last task is to ford the Columbia River. You pack your wagon onto a raft and swim your oxen down a fast rushing river hoping you dont hit a rock and accidentally drown one of your children. If you make it to the bottom of the Columbia River then you have won the game.
Today I tried to ford the river and my oxen drown.
Thus far in Switzerland I have cleared many obstacles including a broken tooth, eating horse (or not eating horse I shoud say), grocery shopping, and a gigantic language barrier. I think I have tacked these obstacles with a certain about of grace and poise. I have finally made it to my job so it should be all down river from here, right? Wrong.
Today I went to UBS (I have no idea what it stands for and Google is in German, so all you need to know is that it is a very large bank here in Switzerland) to open a bank account. You would think that someone with money (I mean, not lots of money compared to what people put in Swiss bank accounts) and a Swiss passport could sign up for a bank account. I go to the office, sit down with a nice professional gentleman who begins to ask me what I would like from my bank account. Then one slight reference to the fact that I was American and all of a sudden I got the look. I have never experienced this myself, but I am pretty sure that the look I received is the same that the lepers got back in BC. He immediately closed his little notebook and said, "Oooohhhhh, that is bad." Oh, um, excuse me, I didn't know that being American somehow is an inconvenience to you...sir. Yeah, I got denied a bank account because aparently since Barak Obama requires Switzerland to reveal their clientele there is a whole slew of paperwork that is now required for Americans to open up a bank account in Switzerland. I guess all those rich people hiding money in Switzerland for tax evasion purposes got angry when Switzerland shined the spotlight on their secret accounts resulting in probably millions of dollars in fines for back taxes and tax evasion. Go figure. Well now Switzerland doesn't want to deal with Americans who want a bank account. So thank you rich people for giving all Americans a bad name - including the dual citizens who just want to deposit a couple hundred in the bank for simple living expenses. No, Obama, I am not trying to hide the equivalent of your sofa change from you. I just want to access my money without having to debate the (crappy) foreign exchange rate anymore (also, thank you for that, Obama). So with that I say:
Dear Obama, you owe me two oxen. Love, Rebecca
Oregon trail is a classic computer game that was invented about the time of Frogger on the DOS computer system. If you are unfamiliar with Frogger then stop reading my blog entirely because we have nothing in common and I no longer know how to relate to you. So, again, back to Oregon Trail. The game was set in the American midwest in the early something 00's. The point of the game was to get you, your wife and three children, and two oxen safely across the midwest in a wagon. Along the way you have to pace yourself, hunt for food, battle diseases, purchase or trade certain necessities, etc. The last task is to ford the Columbia River. You pack your wagon onto a raft and swim your oxen down a fast rushing river hoping you dont hit a rock and accidentally drown one of your children. If you make it to the bottom of the Columbia River then you have won the game.
Today I tried to ford the river and my oxen drown.
Thus far in Switzerland I have cleared many obstacles including a broken tooth, eating horse (or not eating horse I shoud say), grocery shopping, and a gigantic language barrier. I think I have tacked these obstacles with a certain about of grace and poise. I have finally made it to my job so it should be all down river from here, right? Wrong.
Today I went to UBS (I have no idea what it stands for and Google is in German, so all you need to know is that it is a very large bank here in Switzerland) to open a bank account. You would think that someone with money (I mean, not lots of money compared to what people put in Swiss bank accounts) and a Swiss passport could sign up for a bank account. I go to the office, sit down with a nice professional gentleman who begins to ask me what I would like from my bank account. Then one slight reference to the fact that I was American and all of a sudden I got the look. I have never experienced this myself, but I am pretty sure that the look I received is the same that the lepers got back in BC. He immediately closed his little notebook and said, "Oooohhhhh, that is bad." Oh, um, excuse me, I didn't know that being American somehow is an inconvenience to you...sir. Yeah, I got denied a bank account because aparently since Barak Obama requires Switzerland to reveal their clientele there is a whole slew of paperwork that is now required for Americans to open up a bank account in Switzerland. I guess all those rich people hiding money in Switzerland for tax evasion purposes got angry when Switzerland shined the spotlight on their secret accounts resulting in probably millions of dollars in fines for back taxes and tax evasion. Go figure. Well now Switzerland doesn't want to deal with Americans who want a bank account. So thank you rich people for giving all Americans a bad name - including the dual citizens who just want to deposit a couple hundred in the bank for simple living expenses. No, Obama, I am not trying to hide the equivalent of your sofa change from you. I just want to access my money without having to debate the (crappy) foreign exchange rate anymore (also, thank you for that, Obama). So with that I say:
Dear Obama, you owe me two oxen. Love, Rebecca
Cribs: Kusnacht Edition
So, first I want to apologize to all you people for my spelling mistakes. I don't proof read my blogs before I post them so you get them in the rawest form. It's like it is fresh off the press so you should view it as if you were here in the moment that I was writing the blog and not some stuffy edited term paper with no personality. Unfortunately, my lack of editing also makes me sound uneducated, so I will be proof reading my blogs from this point forward.
Well, as you may have guessed from the title of the blog, I have finally moved in with the Au Pair family in Kusnacht. It is wonderful. And that's all I'm going to say since it is not wise to blog about people that don't know you are blogging about them. Especially since I am working for them.
If you have questions, post them and I will email you the answer. Maybe.
Well that is all for now! I have to get to work!
Well, as you may have guessed from the title of the blog, I have finally moved in with the Au Pair family in Kusnacht. It is wonderful. And that's all I'm going to say since it is not wise to blog about people that don't know you are blogging about them. Especially since I am working for them.
If you have questions, post them and I will email you the answer. Maybe.
Well that is all for now! I have to get to work!
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