Palm tree - ze Swiss way

Got an email yesterday from a neighbour, telling me that a palm tree is now planted outside my bedroom "balcony" door. Excellent! Like living in a tropical climate in the middle of Zürich, as well as giving a bit of extra protection.

Until I saw the "palm" this morning. The tiniest little plant thingie, that won't even protect a hedgehog wanting to walk all over it. Apparently a palm tree is not a palm tree in Switzerland, but a "stechpalme".

Mahjong

You know when you're bored and have to stay in front of a computer? You may play Solitaire or Freecell or something similarly boring. But I have discovered Mahjong! Ok, so it may be 2,000 years old as a game goes, but it doesn't matter. I think it's fun. It's with cards, and you have to find available ones and click and they go away. And then you keep on clicking until no more options are available. I know, I am easily amused. But it's good for coordination and even though I'm just up to a 7% winning rate, it makes me more clever. Or so I would like to think. PS. My favourite layout of the cards is "Fortress". Does that surprise you?

A fine balance

Living in a flat building in Zürich city is usually what people refer to as "urban". Meaning you do not know your neighbours. You say "Grüezi" when you run into each other coming or going, but not more. I am very happy to say that in my new house that is not the case. Here we care about each other. But I admit, it's a fine balance. You cannot ring the door at the neighbours every day, thinking you are welcome. And I do not want to host an open house. But on the other hand, you do not want to appear distant. I think we all are finding our way in how to interact with each other. So far it seems to be working fine. We interact, we care and we meet. Have to say I love it. Just hoping it's not the "honeymoon phase". But what do I know, having never been married :)?

Dangly bits

See the two tiny white and blue cables to the left? Those were dangling lose, that was what has caused my telephone problem now for nearly two months. And as my hero said "they didn't pop out by themselves".

So I now know that I am the No 1 connection in the house. These are important things.

That plus the fact that I now have a functioning telephone and permanent wireless internet connection!

My hero

After all the hassle about talking to the construction people and Swisscom about my communication problems (phone doesn't work) I finally convinced Swisscom to send a man through. This was after my response to their email trying to blame the internet provider (who was innocent since I hadn't friggin installed the skybox...which I couldn't since I had no telephone line!) saying:

"Jeezez, 2 months and my telephone is not working. The ADSL is not yet installed and yes, I have chosen another provider. But as long as the telephone does not work, I cannot install the adsl. Again, I have talked to the "Bauherr" who assures me that all electrical work is correctly done. You assure me the telephone line is fine, but the TELEPHONE IS NOT WORKING. What else can I do? Annika"

As I suspected it wasn't Swisscoms problem at all, but the electricians. The construction guy has repeatedly assured me that it wasn't a problem from their side. They will now have to pay for the Swisscom guy. Here he is, my hero.

Saturday

Yes, my kitchen is like made for parties...

Chili

Still blooming!

Burned

There are so many functionalities in one of my new ovens (the other one I haven't even tried yet), but I have now learned the hard way which functionality not to use in connection with cheese thingies.

Burned all the way through and nearly destroyed the pot.

Fashion

I don't think that anyone who knows me would accuse me of being a fashionista, or even remotely interested in what is in and what is out.

When I go clothes shopping it is purely out of necessity, and now after the cleaning-out frenzy in connection with the move it really was necessary.

Ok, so perhaps it wasn't completely necessary to spend nearly 500 CHF on a winter jacket :)...but gosh, is it beautiful and comfortable! This one will last me another 20 years easily, which is probably how long I keep my clothes on average.

Diapers

Two of my good friends called today. They are very special to me since I was the one who introduced them to each other, am btw still waiting for the reward, and they are very happy so I know I would have a future in matchmaking if things were to go bad. But nevermind that. They told me they are expecting a second kid. At which time I told them to postpone the trip to Zürich with about 14 years. What I especially like about this couple is that she goes back to work after birth, and he stays home minding the kid(s). He then got lost into details about one kid - one diaper change - and how to manage two. Told him that the big kid (1,5 years or something) should ditch his diaper and problem would be solved. Told him also that I'm sure I was very early in losing the diapers, like any clever kid. This is when he told me that I'm closer in age to using diapers again than a newborn. Charming! It's nothing like a birthday having so called friends reminding you of your age...

Floor-heating - a science

I am a simple person. I thought that floor-heating meant that the floor can be either warm or cold, depending on the thermostat. Hah! I have now lived with a floor that on one half is nice and warm, and the other half is ice-cold. So yesterday the floorheating-man came around. Turns out there is a lot to know about floor-heating, even though I must admit I wasn't very interested. Just make it work is my approach. There was talk about airing, about main pipes and other pipes, about layout and whatsit. Plus the fact that there is 5 centimeters of concrete between the pipes and the floor. Why you ask? I have absolutely no friggin idea. But I learned that if I put the thermostat up on maximum the whole floor will be warm, but unfortunately so will the whole room and 25°+ is really too much. Meaning I will probably have to live with a warm floor in the kitchen and a cold floor in the rest of the room. Ah well, I'm sure there are worse things in the world.

A package

Last Saturday I was at a party and without me probing I was told that this womans boyfriend had a real "package". Jeez, I so didn't want to know that because next time I speak to him I will not know whether to look at his face or his crotch. Today on the way home on the tram my friend and I were reading 'Blick am Abend' and in the agony-aunt column there was a question from a 13-year-old who thought he had a too small a penis...at which time my friend said "well, I don't have that problem". Too much information. The rest of the evening were dedicated to "packages"...big or small.

UFO

You may think this is a unique picture of the universe, but it is much more important than that. This is the first contribution to my lift.

So not the Saturn, but a real 5 rappen from ze Switzerland.

And my disco kitchen in the background...

An expensive lift

Today we officially formed the building association, consisting of the owners of the 4 flats in the building. I can see that we will have very few problems getting along. There is a real estate company that will maintain everything, and all we have to do is to take decisions. And pay of course. The most shocking thing today was that a lift requires 6 inspections every year in Switzerland, despite the fact that it is a new lift! 6 inspections! That is just ridiculous. And guess who has to pay for it? I think I might have to charge all my visitors a lift fee...

Baby-shower

Discovered today that baby-showers are fun! Who would've thought? It's like a revelation. All these years I have never understood that a baby-shower is just an excuse for a party. There were food, alcohol and women without babies. Actually noone of the invitees had children. Excellent! The only cooing made was when the hostess opened the presents, and I have to admit I cooed a little too. Baby clothes are really very sweet. So even though the walls in the building are too thick to effortlessly surf the internet (on the free network from the neighbour), I am happy that they are since neighbours chose to have baby-room next to my living room. The only weird thing about baby-showers is they are at 2 o'clock on a Sunday. But who cares? Any time and day is good for a party.

Housewarming - 3rd time around

The question is now what we gonna do when all the housewarmings are done. Luckily there is still one to go. Only they claim they are going on holiday to Florida. Why? What can be better than the best house in Zürich?

Oktoberfest is so 2008

After queueing an hour to get in to the Oktoberfest in Bahnhof we decided it wasn't worth it. The interesting thing was that most people had pre-booked for 7pm, but we started to queue already at 5. Instead of having people come in for a few hours using the tables that are reserved for 7, they choose to not let anybody in. So tables empty, and a long queue outside. What sense does that make? For ze Swiss is apparently more important with rules than common sense...

So we took the approach of fuck them and went to another bar for a good liter of strawberry marguerita. Not a bad idea, a nice environment, a good drink and some good talk.

And on the way home I was presented with a gift by a guy on the street. Me: "what's this for?". Him: "the swine flu". Me: "but I am very healthy, I drink lots of alcohol". Him: "me too", while laughing behind his mask.

Now I'm contemplating whether I should wear the mask when going out later...

Health

Today was all about health, believe it or not. Well, at least the first part of the day. Remember that walking challenge I took part in? 125 days of wearing a pedometer, measuring my steps. It turned out not to be so bad actually, since I without much extra effort walked 7 kilometers a day. In fact over the course of the competition I walked all the way to Nairobi. Had I started in Zürich and kept on walking...

1.3 million steps, 851 kilometers, 10,639 steps a day on average. Not bad.

Was at the award ceremony today, and gotta say the president of GCC is a total hunk. Might even consider participating next year too.

Swisscom

Like it wasn't enough problems with Orange, I also do not have a working fixed phone line. Which is why I think I cannot install the Livebox. This issue has been going back and forth between the construction guy, who assures me everything is in order, and Swisscom, who assures me everything is in order on their side too. But the phone is not working. And I have tried two different phones. I still think it's the electrician who fucked it up, which is the construction managers problem. Which in turn becomes my problem. Sometimes it feels like it'll never end...

Orange had a system update!

So plan C was effected about 3 weeks ago. I caved in and bought a Live-box from Orange. Of course I thought I was gonna go home with a package in my hand, but I had to wait 2 weeks for them to send it to me by post. Then I didn't receive a welcome letter with ID and password, so waited. Impatiently I might add. A few days ago I wrote them an email and today I got the answer: "Unfortunately we had a system Update lately and we have still some issues with the Welcome Letters, this is why you did not receive one." Wow, a system update. Everywhere I have been involved in business the key word is to not let it affect the customers negatively. I guess Orange missed that class. But to their credit they also said "You will have on your next invoice a credit of CHF 44.- because of the delay." This is Annika, writing to you using the neighbours network...

Time for a table

Off to Ikea in a little while to get myself a new dining table, and possibly some chairs. I know I will come back either disappointed (not in stock), or very very frustrated and sweaty. Ikea is only good after, not during. It's a good thing I'm going with the ex, since we already broke up.

Jehovas witnesses

Yesterday evening the door bell rang, and when it rings it rings several times like the person pressing the button is impatient. I have learned that this is not the case, it does that by itself, but it nevertheless makes me running to the door. And because I haven't learned yet which button is for speaking and which one is for opening the door, I opened the door directly even though I didn't recognize the man and woman outside. I then figured it was some relatives to somebody in the house, but opened the door just to check. Turned out they were heading for my apartment (how did they know I lived on the 2nd floor? It doesn't say down below...). And yes, you guessed it by the headline, Jehovas friggin witnesses wanting to speak god to me. They were promptly told I'm an atheist and warned not to ever bother me or the neighbours again. But to their defense they were still polite and left the house immediately (I checked thru the intercom camera). Ha, did they approach the wrong person!

Plants?

For quite some time now I've heard that we are getting autumn plants outside and around the house. Since it is the 13th of October and we have lived here 1,5 months already I figured it would already be here, and today I wasn't disappointed. Or?

Perhaps this wasn't exactly what I had in mind. They must be friggin joking!

Weather station

Got myself another little treat today, a weather station. A must in every home with class.

Shows inside and outside temperature, humidity, time and date. It is wireless and hooks up to a atomic clock in Frankfurt for time. Pretty cool I think.

Oktoberfest

And the world goes around and around and around...it's time again for Oktoberfest in Zürich. And unlike the weird Germans we actually do it in Oktober. In Bauschänzli and in Bahnhof. And most of them end up at my fav place, being pretty friggin drunk. Went down there this evening, and since it was fairly packed I was hanging around the bar with my drink. No less than two people came up and wanted to order drinks from me. It might be time to find myself a new fav place...

Saug-Peters adventures

Having saug-Peter is like having a pet. Not only do I talk to him, but today I discovered that he talks back! The first problem was a twig that he had munched from one of my plants, and once removed he went on his business. Second, there was beeping in the bedroom. He had sucked up my socks on the floor, and refused to go on with them inside him. I can sort of understand that, since they were used. When I tried a third time to start him again he talked! But with a womans voice! Something is very wrong here. He told me in three different languages to clean his brushes. Haha. I like him more and more...

Trivia

It's been 25°C here in Zürich today. Hurray for global warming! Unfortunately shoe shops no longer sell summer shoes, and I walked around with socks and real shoes. Hot-hot-hot. Now I've gotta deal with a box that I just picked up from the post office. Suspect it's the network from Orange that finally arrived. Only I had ordered it to be installed, and thought they were bringing it, but it seems customer service is scarce as usual. Then I have to have a serious talk with saug-Peter. He's just blinking yellow, refuses to suck and won't even charge. With the help of the semi-useful manual I actually managed to open it yesterday and sure enough, it was filled with hmmm fluff. But it was only a compartment on the side. Have a suspicion there is a bigger compartment, but manual didn't cover that. This is how I know it's a male device, it only works when it wants...

A little treat

I gave myself a little treat today. I bought a new and very Swiss oven glove for my new kitchen. I think it fits perfectly with its white and black and a little red for ze Swiss.

This is part of my go-native approach (well apart from ze language then!).

Buy your own paradise

Was out having a quick drink this evening, and found a clip in my pocket that I ripped out of a (free) newspaper the other week. It says "Thank you crisis, an island off Queensland's cost costs you less than a house in Zürich". Hmmm. They continue "many people dream of owning their own tropical island, but for most it remains just a fantasy. Now, though, a slice of paradise has become almost afforable in Australia, with dozens of islands on the market and the global financial crisis driving down prices." That's all fine and dandy if you ask me, but who wants to live on an island for more than maybe 3 weeks each year? I am more than happy with my "house" in Zürich thank you very much. And I don't care that "whales pass by twice a year, oysters can be plucked off the rocks and that sea turtles nest on the beautiful sandy beaches". It cannot beat a dead duck just outside the house!

Baby-shower

Jeez, I am invited to a baby-shower thing. What do one do at these gatherings? Discuss throw-ups, diapers, pre-chewed food, the colour of poo or what? I am at a loss here. Figure I just go there, bring some baby paraphernalia and hope that there is some food and drinks...

Housewarming - the sequel

Yes, I think the neighbours are up to a good party...

We likey?

One of the upsides of moving is that you are throwing away lotsa stuff. Everybody tells you this is the time to do it. And I listened. Too much as it turned out. I threw away my 2nd telephone since I was planning to go Skype, and it turned out I couldn't (Switzerland is not yet online enough). Then my only phone stopped working so here I am, paying a fixed fee per month for a phone I cannot use.

Then I binned my shoes. Loads of them. Old, ugly but comfortable. I didn't care. Threw them out. Which led to me walking around at my party in high-heels for about 10 hours and then limping the whole day after. So today I bit the bullet and bought new ones. Do we like?

There are kitchens and then there are kitchens

Sun shade

The balcony from various angles.

Behaviour

People never stop to amaze me. And not always in a good way. I'm thinking of when I invited people to my housewarming party. I sent an invite several months before on email and asked them to RVSP before a certain date. There are several types of behaviour that comes into play then: 1. The people who respond to say yes, I will come. 2. The people who respond to say no, I'm sorry but I cannot come. This behaviour is totally acceptable, even if No 1 is more fun :). Then we have the following: 3. The people who first responded No 1 saying yes I will come and then call or sms (the same day actually) to say they cannot come due to illness, or in one case couldn't make it since his partner was ill (she's 80 so understandable). This is fine too. Illness is not something you can predict. However, I'm not so sure some of these people were actually ill... 4. Then we have the people who at first said they would come, but just failed to show. This is totally unacceptable in my book. They will never ever get an invite from me again. In one case the guy emailed a couple of days later saying he was sorry but he was sick, and I am inclined to accept that, especially since he has seen to that I got a lot of discount on my equipment. But in general, accepting an invite and not show up is unacceptable behaviour. 5. The people who never even responded to the invite, even though I know they got it. Go fuck yourselves! When you are generous and invite people to your home, and they cannot even be bothered to answer then it's goodbye from my point of view. But mostly I am very very happy for all the 40 people who did show up and made my day. It was the best party in many years. And I have a lot to thank Bro, his girlfriend and my German friend for all the help before and during the party. They assisted in the kitchen, and with drinks. They allowed me to mingle and talk to my guests. Thanks guys!

Trash removal

So now when the housewarming is over and done with it was time to do a little clean-up of all the leftovers that not only the party generated, but all the boxes, paper and other remains of the move. Luckily Zürich city provides a pick-up service with paper removal twice a month and carton removal once a month. On top of that I have three bags of old clothes and shoes to give away, which they also pick up once in a while. As a matter of fact now in October. I have also made several trips to the glassbank to get rid of all the bottles we consumed last weekend, even though Bro took the four megabottles with Prosecco with him that he brought and we finished without trouble. Think it might have held 12 liters of bubbly. Together with countless beer cans, wine bottles and even soft drinks (I think the one kid drank 4 pet-bottles on his own of Coke). The kid was fascinated by my ice machine, and in the end of the evening it was like a pool around the freezer. He didn't get that you have to deposit the ice in a bucket to prevent spluttering, but what can you expect from an 11-year old? Brains develop later in boys...if at all. It is starting to look a lot like home now. The only thing I am missing is a dining table and some chairs, but I have a cunning plan. Also some shelves I need to buy, but no hurry. And only 3 boxes left to unpack. Mostly with paperwork and photos, for which I also have a clever plan. And tonight it's housewarming at the neighbours! I they allow me you'll see pics later.

Züspa

Visited Züspa today. This is a big autumn exhibition in Zürich, holding everything from furniture to wine. My friend wants to renovate her kitchen, another one wants a new bed and I, I had an invite from my wine deliverer. So we ended up tasting wine, and because my friend decided to place an order I got 6 bottles of wine for free. Plus a gift with the invite...a rotating glass plate. As an extra plus, while my friend was negotiating her kitchen and I spotted some uniformed men in the next booth, I had a lengthy conversation with a Zürich policeman. I used my imagination and pretended I was really worried about crime prevention and break-in's in my new hood. He informed me that I can get a free consultation at home (and here I soooo wanted to ask him whether the police would show up in uniform...but bit my tongue and didn't!). This I will most definitely do!

We're simply the best!

I was at a party the other weekend. Not my own, but the previous weekend I attended a gay party. If you want diverse, that's the place to go. There was a 17-years-old mixing with 55-years-olds, there were low-educated people together with almost-professors, there was a blind guy with his dog, a deaf couple, and even some straight people. Fantastic! Downside was it was almost 2 hours travel out of Zürich. And I got accused of being an arrogant Zürcher, an arrogant person from Zürich. Hurray! I made it. I took it as a compliment. And in todays "Blick am Abend" we have reason to be cocky in Zürich, we are simply the best. FCZ (Football Club Zürich) kicked the asses of AC Milan yesterday. We have the highest quality of life in Switzerland and are second in the world (after Vienna...where is that again?). We have the best public transportation system (recently in a study it was concluded that ze Swiss travel most kilometers by train in the world). We are the most gay city, as an example was given the police boss who's a lesbian (not sure this is something to brag about though). We have more than 80 infrastructure projects going on in Zürich just now and in the end it was mentioned: The best things about Zürich cannot be measured: the pulse of the city, the lake and the most beautiful women in the world. I could'nt agree more.

Suck-peter and I

We are getting to know each other slowly. I ask him to do his thing, and he does it but sometimes I ask too much. Like this evening when I decided to lock him in my bathroom and let him clean the new bathroom mat. It's full of fluff that sticks to my feet, and since I do not have a tumbler I thought suck-peter could help. He did a good job, but then I asked him to do the bedroom and he was just full. Full of yellow fluff, and I had to clean him. Then he was happy as a fly in shit and continued happily to suck. When I think he's done I open the door for him to go on to the next room, but he tells me he's not finished and continues. He has a strong sense of responsibility. What a guy!