Von Halabuk Family Life Style Adjustments

Some of the life style changes that we have experienced:

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Trains are easy access between towns or across country (this makes weekend trips very convenient). In the city you can get a tram or bus within a few blocks of wherever you are and they come by every 5 to 10 minutes. We do use a car, but the public transportation is often easier.

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This was a jolt. Stores close at 6:30 during the week, 4:00 on Saturday, and they are closed on Sunday. Once a week they stay open "late," until 8:00. There is no 24 hour Vons. Some shops at the main train station do stay open a little later and on Sundays, so we visit them often (although new laws may close them too). Shopping for food requires a different strategy, you have to buy food often and at many different stores (there are more specialized here). They do not use as many preservatives so food does not last as long, bread must be bought the day you plan to eat it (and it is good).

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They speak Swiss German here, which is a dialect of German (the Germans cannot understand it though). Switzerland has four national languages; Swiss German, French, Italian, and Romanish (ancient language of the Romans). Being so international and neutral, most Swiss also speak English (it is actually taught to all children in school). This makes it very easy for us mono-lingual Americans. We've learned the basic words necessary to order food, politely even. You hear many different languages every day. Once in a while we are unable to communicate with someone. After they go through all the languages they know we resort to the international point and grunt language.

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Dinning out is different than in the states. They have one seating each night, no shuttling people in and out to free up tables. And the kitchens don't even open until 6:00, so if you are hungry early you are in trouble. When each order is ready, they serve it. Often you eat at different times and watch each other eat. Also, they have no problem splitting bills. In fact, that is the normal method. The server will just pull out a pen and do the math right on the bill for you, no complaining and no evil looks.

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What is typical Swiss food you ask? The answer is:

• fondue - cheese or you can cook your own meat in a bouillon or oil, but only tourists order fondue outside of winter
• bratwurst - with a hard roll (not on a roll), this stuff is great
• spatzli - kind of a cross between pasta and potatoes then pan fried to brown
• rosti - hash browns with just about anything, served any time of day except with breakfast
• eggs - fried on just about anything, except for breakfast
• sandwiches - either cheese or meat, not both and usually nothing else with it on a hard roll
• mixed salads - excellent, made like a salad sampler plate
• sourkraut
• wild Bambi
• and of course they have chocolate (everywhere and excellent)

They eat bratwurst like we eat hamburgers in the states. There are no drive-thrus, but every corner has a bratwurst stand. They are good right off the grill, Natalie loves 'em too.

And we cannot forget the beer, even the everyday beers are good (no Bud or Coors here). And each region has their local beers, which we always tried and liked.

A few other food tidbits:

• Pizza - no such thing as a large (they are all individually sized), and no pepperoni (don't bother asking). They have pepperoni on the menu, but is it red and yellow bell peppers. So they will gladly bring you "pepperoni."
• Meat - Their main meats are pork, veal, chicken, fish, and during the fall wild bambi. There is not much good beef, although it is on every menu. The Swiss cows produce great dairy, but they are not bred for beef like in the U.S. You can buy imported U.S. beef, but it is expensive. We bought two average rib-eye steaks for $50 (USD) before we realized it.
• Glüggwein (sounds like "glue vine") - This is probably our greatest find! We can't get enough. It is a seasonal drink for the winter. It is red wine heated up with seasonings, cinnamon stick, and fruit slices. It is hard to imaging, but it is great. After the holidays, we bought out every store we could find that had any left.

If you are visiting Zürich, here are some good places to eat: Our favorite Zürich food.

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It does get cold, but was very warm and clear in the summer. It has snowed about 3 times now in Zürich. The weather changes quickly though, rain and sun in the same day is common. One day we had a hot santa ana wind, clouds, rain, hail, sun, snow, and more sun (yes, all in one day). When the fog comes into Zürich, unlike California where people go east to get sun here people go up and head for the Alps to get sun. However, when it is nice in Zürich, it may be freezing and snowing higher up.

Oh and the air, you can breathe here. We found it difficult to breathe when we were back in San Diego for a visit.

We had great weather this February, it was sunny every day. Usually February is like So. California's June-gloom. It's still very cold though in the 30's and 40's.

But NO El Niño here! Na Na na Na naaaa Na.

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Switzerland is expensive. However, the surrounding countries are pretty reasonable. We've had several great 4-course meals in France for under $20. You can find some "reasonable" prices in Switzerland, but you need some tips from the locals. And then there are the many exchange rates to deal with. Every country you travel through means you need to get local currency and figure out the exchange rate so you can calculate what things are really costing you.

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There are some minor but important differences. The car to the right has the right-of-way unless explicitly marked (kind of like sailing). This is rather startling heading straight down the street when a car coming out of a side street takes the right-of-way. Also, there are no U-turns and no right turns on red. The best thing is that lights turn yellow before green, this give you a warning so you can get ready and start moving (don't worry, the other traffic gets a red before you get the green). Oh yes, and if you are more than the third car at a red light you are supposed to turn your engine off. Not everyone follows this law though (but we always do J ).

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We have been warned by several Swiss people that Swiss people keep their distance, but to the contrary we have found so many Swiss people to be very friendly and helpful. People have gone out of their way to help us, often without asking (they see we need some help and come over to offer it).

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Visit a doctor and get ready for the Big Chill, no gowns, as in all natural. Just another little thing to get used to.

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What am I doing? Installing a fancy telephone for air traffic controllers. It is a touch screen phone controllers use to talk with other controllers in Zürich and other air centers around Europe. It is very flexible as far a defining massive phone number lists and has hundreds screens of auto dial numbers. It also easily re-directs calls as air space changes are made.

The system went live on January 12, 1998 and is running excellently (much better than anyone imagined).

I feel like the Maytag repair man.

The work environment is a little different, in general it is more relaxed and less stressful. The Swiss work hard and produce high quality work, but they go home at 5:00, take the weekends off, and take plenty of holidays (that's vacations). It is not the work-aholic syndrome in the states. Also, they don't carry their coffee cups everywhere constantly perking up. They take regular coffee breaks (10:00 and 3:00) and sit in the cafeteria to socialize. When work needs to be done at all hours, they are there to do it but it is not the norm.

Vacations are better here. They start at 4 weeks and get 6 weeks after they have worked for a few years.

It is required by your employment contract to give a 2 or 3 month notice to leave a job.

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Dogs go everywhere. They go with their masters into all public places, including stores, trains, and restaurants. They are all well behaved, you never see one snarl at you and dog fights are very rare. They seem to be able to hold it quite well too, we've not seen a mess in a public place. Although one time in Lyon France at a very nice resaurant there was a little poodle in the corner coughing up her pate (gross).

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Smoking is still very common in Europe. We have to deal with it everywhere. Many (but not all) restaurants have no smoking section, but that is usually small and right next to the smokers. What they mean is it is a non-smoking table you are sitting at.

For example, I went into a restaurant and the table I was directed to was in the smoking section. He didn't speak English and all I could say in German was "no smoking." So I looked around and found one table clearly on the non-smoking "side" of the room. I went and sat down there and he promptly removed the no smoking sign on the table and brought me an ashtray. And I was surrounded my tables with the no smoking sign.

There are a lot of Europeans that don't like smoking, but most don't know the smoke-free environment yet.

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Switzerland is very much a traditional country.  But very often we encountered technology applied in everyday life, which we don't see as routinly in the US.  For example:

• Callerid is a standard service and supported on most phones.  You don't need to pay extra.
• TV's have informational text.  You select a "channel" to get more text information about the program.  This first page is usually an index that lets you page through to find what you want to know.  Text browsing via the cable company, they've been doing it for a while.
• TV channels and radio stations always display their name (or call letters).  You don't need to program the call letters in, it automagic.
• Obide by the speeding laws.  They don't have police sitting at corners with speed guns.  They have speeding machines that take your picture and mail you the fine.  Less man-power and people do obide by the speeding laws.
• Autoflush toilettes and faucets are the norm.  Even in many very old buildings, they have these "standard" high-tech gadgets.   No timer flushed urinals here, on-demand only.
• Windows  open two directions. You can swing it out or it will tilt down. The tilt down is great when you want to leave it open while you are gone. These are standard on most windows.
• We were able to get 56k modem speeds every time, everywhere in Switzerland.  In the US, the best we can get is 28k.  (This is due to the number of central office hops, but the face remains it sucks.)
• They also have these James Bond rocket bikes. It is a 2-seater motorcycle with a shell that has wing wheels that come down when it slows down.

 
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Swiss Timing - It is true the Swiss are great clock and watch makers and provider of the official times at the olympics (a very important world contribution). I don't know the origin of this tradition of craftsmanship (you'll have to do a netsearch for that bit of history), but I do know the practical side of it. The Swiss have a fabulous public transportation system. To use this system you have to be on time. Trains, trams, and buses leave exactly on the minute they are scheduled to (almost all the time, when they are late we're talking 1-3 minutes). You have to make it to your departure point on time. I think this trains you to be aware of the exact time and making appointments on time. When we are 10-15 minutes late meeting someone, we always hear the "late American" comments.

The great Swiss compromise - It's true. Don't get me wrong, it is not that everyone is neutral on every issue (they do have strong opinions too). But when there is a "dispute" (as we call it in the states) they sit down face-to-face and compromise. No hassles, no lawsuits, and they quickly put is behind them. I have heard this "compromise" word many times from many different Swiss people concerning many different situations.

I had a small dispute with my ex-landlord. After writing a flaming letter, my attorney here suggested I just sit down and compromise. The landlord also wanted to sit down and compromise. So I did. He offered something close to him getting what he wanted, then I countered with something close to what I wanted. I didn't budge and he accepted my token offer. Cool, no attorneys (what a world it could be...).

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A few titbits of interest:

• By law you have to give a 3 month notice to move out of an apartment. And then you have to register in the district you move into.
• Children under 6 years old cannot go to the movies, even with their parents. Natalie saw Hurcules in the states but was denied access here with an adult ("it's the law"). Don't report her, but she sneaked in with the babysitter anyway.
• You can drive with an open container in the car and the passengers can be drinking!
• We've noticed that there is less violence on TV and in the media here, but more sex. It is common place to see a women's top half in the media. They definitely have their priorities set better than in the states.
• The money is much more interesting than in the U.S., they have different colors on their bills, different sizes of bills. There are no pennies, very few nickles, and no bills less than a 10 franc. This means you carry lots of change in your pocket. The French 100 franc bill is the best it has a topless women on it, what a country!
• I've heard people that think the Swiss are very conservative, maybe in the mountains and the bankers but not the young crowd in the city. The dress code for the hip (no not us) is mostly black. The shoe-wear standard is very high platforms, like toe and heel at least 6 inches off the ground. Everyone has a pierced something; ear, nose, lip, eye, and I'm sure many places we cannot see. And then there are the hair colors, bizarre. Every color you can image is stained into someone's hair.
• The road maintenance is very slow. It takes months (and we believe years in some cases) to complete roadwork. They also have a tendency to redo work shortly after it is completed. Outside the new Operations Building at the airport, they added a new wing and a new bike parking lot. Only a couple months later, the removed and dug up a quarter of the bike lot. They are still working on this project and we don't expect to see its completion.
• Have I mentioned that this country is very clean? It is. Pollution is low and cleanliness is high. They are very big on recycling and not littering. In face, they wash the buildings and street signs here. Honest. About once a month I see a guy with a mop washed the outside of the Operations building at the airport (I don't know if they wash every building though). And I've witnessed a crew washing street signs. They do have graffiti though. However, it is not gang-related. One of our Swiss friends described it as "rich kids with too much time on their hands."

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