I am SO over cobblestones...

Yes, they're so quaint and lovely - and they really communicate that you're not in Kansas anymore. But the number of cobblestones in any given quaint European city is in direct proportion with the amount of schlepping you will do in that city. And they are hell to walk on for any length of time - especially if you're not wearing shoes/boots with a very thick sole. Even if you are, they're so uneven and easy to trip over, you (read: me) are constantly staring down at the ground to make sure where your feet are going, that you miss a lot of quaint views that are above ground level. Love to look at them...hate to walk on them. And they're everywhere.

So, maybe you will have guessed that I'm back from Prague - a truly lovely city, with fairy tale castles and other lovely sights. And cobblestones from one end of the city to the other. See? What can I say? This is simply what happens to Americans. The lawyers and risk management people have long since gotten rid of anything potentially 'dangerous' and this would include most of the walking areas I've encountered thus far in Europe. Even on my own work campus here, there are hazards everywhere, and for those of us who have been rendered clueless by all the lawyers, these are things you must learn to look out for, or they'll get you every time. Many doorways here have a raised threshhold, usually only an inch high or so (but some as high as three inches) - and they're in places where you'd never expect them (trust me, if you're an American like I'm an American, you too would not expect these - and you'd trip all the time too. Yes, you would!). If I haven't tripped at least once on any given day, it's only because I never left my house (although I have tripped across the threshhold at the front door there a time or two as well - sheesh). It's great to feel so graceful and elegant all the time...

But back to Prague - such a lovely place. It's the American ideal of a European city - not destroyed by WWII, and full of the kind of vistas that make you go, 'ahhhh' and pull your camera out again and again. I highly recommend a visit there. Next year, the same congress I just attended will be in Copenhagen, so I'll tell you all about it when the time comes. Presumably, I will have other locales to talk about between then and now, but just in case I never feel like walking on cobblestones again anytime soon...

Hey, my ship has come in - how many of you can say that? Our ship has indeed come in, and all our worldly goods will be delivered on Tuesday at 07.30. I am very much looking forward to reacquainting myself with my beloved bed, as well as perhaps rediscovering some comfortable footwear amongst my collection of shoes. And some warmer clothing. Scott will be very happy to get his tools and bike stuff, as well as shoes, warmer clothing, etc. Dogs and cat already have everything their little hearts desire, as usual.

We're currently trying to figure out what kind of car to buy - we're thinking something we couldn't get in the states would be fun...but many of those are slightly scary from a reliability standpoint (eg, Renault, Citroen, Fiat, etc.). Scott wants to get another Subaru, but I am leaning toward at least buying a European car (eg, a VW Golf - I know, how exotic!!). Any suggestions are welcome.

Well, I had all sorts of things stored up to say here - but naturally, I've forgotten most of them already, so I'll come back and write more later if I recover anything from my tired memory banks. Tchuss!

R-E-S-P-E-C-T

Well, here's something interesting about der Schweiz...women didn't get the vote here until the 1970s (!). It shows too. Women in the workplace - well, it's still new enough that even the middle-aged guys have a struggle with it sometimes. I thought I'd encountered sexism in the US...but I have seen a whole new level of it. It's highly annoying I must say, but it's hardly going to turn me into a Swiss hausfrau anytime soon.

And it must be said - please forgive me ahead of time - but there are body odor issues in Europe. I'm sorry, but it's true. I dont' think it's to do with problematic personal hygiene, however - but more, I'm convinced, because it's quite humid here and people are more active, walking a lot, taking the stairs, etc. Combined with distinct lack of Arrid Extra Dry, this results in the body having its way, and there it is. And it has to be pointed out that American-style sitting on your butt in your office, house, car, etc., with lots of high-powered US style AC, well, of course the Arrid Extra Dry need hardly lift a finger to work in the states, where here - if used (perhaps it is?) - it would be put to much more demanding tests. :-) At any rate, it's surprising how quickly you become used to it, so it's not much of an issue - more just an observation.

Other European stereotypes that have borne out - yes, there is no ice. No ice. Period. If you ask, you may receive one small cube, possibly two, but nothing more. Even McDonald's here gives you a drink with just a very small amount of ice. It's a trip - is ice some sort of environmentally incorrect item? They are refrigerating and freezing things here anyhow - why not throw some water in the freezer? Alas, we are getting used to this too. If a drink is cold-ish, I enjoy that it's not room temperature and call it good. I have two cases each of Coke Light and mineral water (ordered for me by the admin of my group) sitting in my office - apparently I'm just supposed to drink room temperature (side note: which is often quite warm due to the placebo air conditioning they have here) diet Coke and "water with gas" (ie, sparkling). I can't fetch a glass of ice from somewhere and pour it over, so the supplies are going to last a while.

Air conditioning is another thing they don't use here (what is this obsession with avoiding things that are cold?), or, when they do, it's highly ineffective. People have AC in their cars and never use it, even on very hot days. Even with the price of gas here (I'll get back to you on this), I sometimes would kill for a really cold blast of AC on a hot day. I have "AC" in my office, but turned all the way up, I can't tell a difference between when it's on and when it's off - thus, I refer to it as placebo AC, which isn't that unlikely at a drug company, when you think about it.

None of the above should be construed as interfering with our enjoyment of Basel whatsoever. We are loving it here, and enjoying these cultural differences that are sometimes slightly uncomfortable to us and what we are used to. Vive la difference, n'est-ce pas?

Let me just state that we don't miss traffic at all, are getting used to fetching groceries frequently and on foot, and wish there was a Taco Bell here (okay, only Diana does - but there is a distinct lack of anything spicy here, so of course I am craving hot food of any kind - making do with pizza [very yummy here] with chilies/olive oil they provide as a condiment if you request it...and I do).

Next week, Diana goes to Prague for the European Gastroentological Congress. Should be good fun - tune it later for details.

Our first few weeks

We started our journey by traveling in our rented Mazda MPV across the states. Spent several lovely days with Scott's family in Ohio and had a great time. Then we moved on to the Washington DC area, where we descended upon my brother Dave & his wife Shannon's kinda-new townhouse. While we were there, we (meaning Scott) tried to pay for our keep by tiling their guest bathroom, which turned out pretty nicely. The last leg of our American journey was a trip up I-95 and the NJ Turnpike to the Newark Airport...

Let's talk about traveling with pets, shall we? After 7+ calls to Swiss Airlines to ensure they had our pets' reservations, we finally were assured that our two dogs and one cat would be welcomed aboard. Heartwrenchingly, we were forced to put one of our dogs and the cat into kennels down in some unknown area in the belly of the plane. Woe was us. We brought our smaller dog in a little doggie carry-on bag with us into the staid regions of Business Class. Woe was us even more. Little doggie didn't like her little carrier and spent hours of free time over the Atlantic attempting to chew her way out, and did a really good job of destroying the inside of her carrier. Wee bitch.

After 8 hours of fly time, we arrived at the airport in Zurich, with a veritable mountain of items. Were most pleased to finally find a porter with a very large wagon for our many bags, kennels, etc. Paid him CHF 60 to lug our goods through customs (and what a brief and pleasant experience that was - in and out of there in minutes, despite having animals to bring in and the afforementioned mountain of other bags and items), and then to the van that my company had sent to pick us up. Imagine my surprise when I see a whole mini-bus (with rows of seats) and a small trailer at the back sent just to pick us up. I guess I had scared the relocation people really well with my tales of carrying our entire household with us. We had the bus to ourselves, and our worldly goods rattling around in the trailer behind us. It's only an hour from Zurich to Basel, but I still managed to fall asleep for half of it. Woke in time to see IKEA as we drove past.

But no sooner do our tired butts arrive in Basel (at our new apartment - more later on this), than our relocation agent showed up all bright and energetic to take us on important errands. Because I had planned to start work on the 16th of August, we had arrived in Basel on the 11th, with the idea that I'd have a few days to acclimate and get things done before work started. However, a few days before we left the US, I found out I had to attend offsite meetings in Basel on the 12th and 13th...so I did have to to my important errands the very day we arrived en Suisse. Alas. We went to the police station to register our entry visas and obtain our residence permits. Then we went to some kiosk and bought Diana a monthly tram pass in order that she should be able to move about the city. (Switzerland is interesting about pro-rating things...in that, generally, they don't. I bought a monthly pass on the 11th of August, but I paid for the entire month of August. Similarly, if I had purchased an annual pass, I would have paid for all of 2004, even though I would only use it for the last quarter of 2004. Hmm.)

Then we went to some electronics store to get Scott a mobile phone for quick access to the world outside - and especially to our real estate agent in the states. Following this, we went to SwissCom and bought a phone and had a phone number immediately. So before the first night fell, we were hooked up - especially since TV and cable were already in our apartment. Swiss efficiency is not a myth; but then there's also Swiss bureaucracy and rules...more on this to come.

Early observations on Switzerland: Things run on time - you can practically set your watch by the tram schedule. They really do overinsure - Scott had to buy insurance tags for his bike (CHF 5 per year) in case he injures someone with his bike. We also carry CHF 5 million in 'third party liability' insurance - which is the average amount people carry. (Just for reference, one Swiss Franc [CHF] equals about USD 0.78 and about EUR 0.65) We also had to buy private health insurance, mandatory, but got free 'accident' insurance through my work - meaning any kind of accident, anywhere, anytime - not just work-related accidents. I'm still trying to figure it all out. Expenses and bills are another interesting thing here - when you go to order a service, or sometimes even when you're buying something, they give you the item/service, and then send you a bill for it. These bills may be paid at Die Poste (post office) or via e-banking, but there is no such thing as a check here - they just don't do checks, period. SwissCom made us pay a CHF 500 deposit b/c apparently sometimes these damn auslanders skip out on their bill - but they sent a bill for the deposit, which we paid long after we had already gotten phone service and incurred expenses with them. If you go to buy a car, it's the same deal - you get the car, they mail you a bill that must be paid within 30 days.

Prices are pretty steep here - for example, food is quite expensive. A cake mix type thing that Scott bought was like CHF 11.50 (not imported, a european product), and a small box of ziploc bags was 2.90. The ham that Scott buys to make his sandwiches is approximately CHF 8.00, and it's enough to make two sandiwches. But some things are surprisingly cheap - like tomatoes, and fresh mozarella (only about CHF 1.50 for 180 grams of it - enough for two servings). It's hard to get used to because I think we still kind of think of the pretty colored francs as some kind of play money - it will sink in soon enough when our Swiss bank account starts to look like our US one. By the way, it costs us about CHF 450 a year to pay tax on our 'haushunds' - our dogs (apparently cats are free). Our tax francs at work: there are dispensers of doggie-poo bags all over the city.

Swiss rules are interesting - they have a lot of them, and they believe in them and follow them religiously. There is very little crime here - in the whole of 1993, not a single car was stolen in all of der Schweiz. We know there are several transgressions Scott and/or I have made that I don't know the nature of - but getting scolded in Basel-Deutsch by somebody lets you know you've crossed some unknown line. You can't flush your toilet after 10.00 pm because it makes too much noise (this actually doesn't apply in our only partially residential building, but is apparently a common house rule). We get one day a week to do our laundry (Tuesday) and we can only do it on that day. You can't work in your garden or wash your car or anything like that on Sundays, when they have no-work laws (shops are closed too, but restaurants are often open). I got menaced in the elevator at work the other day by some very tall facilities guy b/c apparently I was using the 'wrong' elevator (no sign anywhere indicating this) - he even brandished his key and told me he could lock me out of it. Sheesh. I responded with a sweet smile and a reminder that I saw facilities people in the other elevators all the time, so I thought we could all just share nicely.

Our apartment is nice as well - it's built in about the 1960s I would say. It's three bedrooms, a nice living room and either an eat-in kitchen, or a very small kitchen with an adjacent dining area, however you want to look at it. There's also a full bathroom, and a half bath - they are located directly next to each other, so that's a little weird. All the doors in the apartment lock with skeleton keys - our old medicine cabinet even had a lock - alot of locks for such a safe country. There's no closet or storage space at all, and we schlepped out to IKEA (at the end of one of the tram lines, then a good long hike to the store) to buy a very large wardrobe. Our apartment is on the third floor (which would be the fourth floor in the US) and has a wee little elevator that you can squeeze two people in to. DeeDee is scared of it (of course) so we have to pick her up to get her to take the elevator; Gibby, as always, is game for anything. We have a nice little terrace overlooking the street. It's a quiet street, relatively speaking. It's a block and a half away from the street where the trams run, and it's a business area, meaning that at night, a lot of people go home and the area is quiet. Our building has both offices and flats. We also have a pool and a sauna in the basement of the building, which are nice, and even, amusingly, a coin-operated tanning bed.

My office is about eight tram stops from the apartment (which is across town, essentially). We live right in the city center, and my work is on the edge of town, right by the French border - the parking lot is in France. I can see the Black Forest from here as well. So we're definitely in the tri-country area. I have a nice office at work - I haven't had an office with an actual door since the early '90s, so it's very good. However, they have this huge 'campus project' in the works, wherein they are constructing an entirely new campus - over the next 30 years. The first building will be done mid-next year, and I've heard that we'll be moving into it. It's all open plan there - no more offices. Alas, I will enjoy it while I can.

Scott is enjoying life and is very busy getting lots of things done. He's working on putting together a massive wardrobe IKEA delivered yesterday (CHF 200 for delivery, thank you very much). Curse the ever-loving flat-pack furniture, it's very hard to work with. Scott also got the DSL hooked up (we FINALLY got it this week) and mostly running. It's very interesting trying to get things to work when the instructions are in German. Scott also got our dishwasher to work. The dogs really love having him around all the time - he's always been their favorite. They get to go on 'walkies' all the time, since they don't use a litter box anymore, so they love that. He is also hooked up with a group called the Housemen - they are men whose wives work in CH, but they don't (usually b/c they're taking care of kids or can't get work permits, or both) and they all speak English - from UK, US, Australia, South Africa, etc. They meet at a pub in town every Wednesday for lunch (and beers, of course) as well as having some other activities as well. (For those who don't already know, the reason that CH is the abbreviation for Switzerland is because it stands for 'Confederatio Helvetica,' some old latin name for this place I believe. The VIP "Hostesses" at work [they look like flight attendants of yesteryear, and literally wear matching powder blue suits with attractive pastel scarves and they 'hostess' the visitors who warrant such treatment] were explaining the CH thing, but I was in the back of the bus and couldn't hear too well.)

And this just in: We sold our house! For a nice price with very little fuss - closing within three weeks. Of course we had to schlep all over Basel to get some house papers notarized (notary fee was CHF 86.10!), but it'll all be worth it when we get that equity payout.

Well, this ought to be rambling enough for anyone at this point. We'll post to this as often as we can - or as often as anything interesting happens. Stay tuned.