Ah, a weekend in Paris. NO, not Hilton - France.

On Wednesday night my French friend Sylvian said he was free for the weekend if I wanted to visit. I booked my tickets online that night and flew to Paris on Friday after work. It is certainly one of the rare and special advantages of single life that you can plan holidays three days in advance. I've been paid and have a weekend up my sleeve, so why not go and see a friend I haven’t seen in two years - in Paris. *sigh*... life is beautiful.

Sylvian met me at the airport, and drove me back to the flat where I met the flatties and dropped off my stuff. We ate some home-made pizza, and drove into town for a drink and a walk around. That part of town was definitely the red light district in Paris, as every second shop was a sex shop, a strip joint or a brothel. Men stood outside and beckoned passers by for a ‘good time’. Apparently if you ever go in the girl will ask you if you want something to drink, and then crack open a €300 bottle of champagne. Ouch. Sylvian took a photo of me in front of the actual Moulin Rogue, and I’ll upload it when I get it from him. We drove around a bit and saw Paris by night. And that was Friday night.

The next few photos are what I took on Saturday morning. Sylvian had work, so Christophe helped me buy a day pass for the subway, gave me a map, and left me to my own devices.

Paris Subway, and popping out from the Subway onto the street.

Just outside Invalides.

Invalides courtyard (left), and a statue by the enterance (right).

I also made it to the Eiffel tower on Saturday (topmost right image, roughly joined in PhotoShop) before return for lunch at 2pm of chicken and potatoes, which was really good. After lunch Sylvian had to go see about a girl, so I walked to the local market and bought a leather jacket I've always wanted but never had the disposable income to justify buying.

Later on we took the subway into the Paris city proper (the flat is just outside the ring that defines Paris city). We walked through some of the parks and had a look around.

I reckon this'd look good in the garden.

Hey, it's that Louvre pyrimad from the DaVinci Code where Jesus was buried. Crap - did I just gave the whole movie away?

And that was Saturday night. Went home, drank some fine French vintage and played poker till 4am (almost won too, but lost the gamebreaker with a pair of 10s vs a pair of Jacks). Sunday morning I walked down to the baker and bought croissiants and baguettes for breakfast. Some friends came over for lunch, and then Sylvian dropped me to the airport at 3pm.

If you've been following my posts, you'll remember I theorised that airports are built to reflect the character of their land? Well judge for yourself (image above right).

And so my time in Austria comes to a close. I’ve stayed in Klagenfurt this weekend, and will fly back Wednesday evening. Gah… flying. I wonder what the chances are my flight will be delayed, cancelled, rescheduled, or otherwise rendered incompetent. Of the five flights I’ve made to and from Austria, only one has actually gone according to the original plan. The worst was going home last Friday, where my flight from Klagenfurt to Vienne was delayed by an hour, which meant I missed the last connecting flight to Zurich. I managed to get on a flight to Basel, take a taxi from Basel airport to the train station (CHF40, halved with someone else) and take the train to Olten. On the plus side my flight was upgraded to business class, and my seat number was A1. Of course by the time I got to Olten it was past midnight and there were no more trains to Murgenthal (my stop), so Claudia came to my rescue and met me in Olten. And it was Emil’s birthday. Thanks Austrian Airlines!

I’ve had a touch of a cold or something since Friday, but it hasn’t slowed me down much. You can’t keep a good man down, as they say. And you can’t keep me down either. Nonetheless I’m quietly spending my Sunday reading Dilbert, watching a German overdubbing of Angels in the Outfield, and updating the blog. Was a really nice day so I went to the Zentrum for lunch and took some pictures.

Yesterday I went walking on the Slovenian border with some guys from work. Actually we parked on the Austrian side, showed our passports to the dude in the checkpoint, and walked up the valley on the Slovenian side. The border is just a 3-foot with a stick-figure sign saying you shouldn’t jump over it. Some rules just beg to be broken. There was a duty free shop too (the border actually runs through the shop), but Austrians and Slovenians aren’t allowed to buy from it, unless someone with a foreign passport buys it for them. Not that I did or anything.
From next Monday I will work in Zurich on a real project. A colleague here at work says he knows someone in Zurich who has a room for rent. I’m quite happy staying in Fulenbach for the moment, but the 90min transit to work and back might change that. I’ll try commuting for the first week and see what happens. I’m looking forward to having a regular lifestyle.

Phew! My first week at work has gone swiftly and remarkably painlessly. What can I say? Austrians speak a funny version of German, which is actually better understood by the Swiss than the Germans. The country is similar to Switzerland in many ways, though they don't eat as much cheese, and have dark beer.

Sunday 01/10:
Posted off my application form for my General Abonument (GA, pronounced gee-haa), which is a pass that will allow me to travel the entire Swiss trains, bus, boat, tram and gondola network for free (or in some cases a reduced fare).
Took the train to Zurich and stayed with my cousin Andrea and her husband Marcell who had kindly agreed to put me up for the night. Thanks guys.

Monday 02/10:
Woke at 5am, showered, had breakfast, and Marcell drove me to the Zurich airport at 6am. This gave me sufficent time to catch my 8am flight, as the earliest train would have arrived at 7:15am, and I didn't want to even consider the posibility of missing the plane on my first day at work.
I borded the plane with no major problems. My surname had been misspelled, but the check-in chick said it would only be a problem if I were travelling to the US. Flew to Vienne, then on to Klagenfurt arriving at 11:10am where my boss Kurt met me there. We drove to my hotel, checked in, and then on to the office. I met the few people who were actually there (seems everyone was away on various business that week), was introduced to my laptop for the time being, and spent the day installing stuff and tinkering with the laptop. By the time 6pm rolled around, I was literally struggling to keep my eyes open. I went to my hotel, drank my first dark beer in four months, ate, and hit the hay.
The hotel is a middle-range hotel with all the necessities and none of the frills. The staff are friendly, I was well fed, and the room was comfortable enough so I can't complain. Given the chance, however, I would suggest to the broadcasting authorities to put on more English shows. Channel 22 was CNN, and channel 27 was German MTV. CNN was stuck on repeat, and as for MTV, watching 'date my mom' quickly lost its charm, which was followed by the gay version of 'date my mom'... I stopped there.

Tuesday 03/10 - Wednesday 04/10:
Spent two days reading technical documentation on the system I will be working with. User manual for entre and technical docs for the main course. API javadoc was for desert but I was full and only picked at it. With all the @enterprise experts out of the office (that's the name of the system I'm working with) I had little else to do.
Back at the batcave... our hero makes a shocking discovery. Swiss power plugs have three prongs, but Austrian power sockets have only two holes, and the home-made New Zealand/Swiss power adapter won't fit any of the ten sockets (I counted) in his room! What will he do??? Without a second's hesitation, using his watch wrist band as a screwdriver, he opens the converter and removes the middle prong. Voilla! Yes, I was pleased with myself, and as a bonus I even got to recharge my cellphone and electric toothbrush.

Thursday 05/10:
Started to get my (clean) teeth into Java which I will admit, was kind of nostalgic. Tinkered mostly. Got stuck on a problem that I'd need to ask someone about, but someone wasn't there, so I went home early.
Went for a stroll into the Zentrum (city centre). Was around a 20-30min walk, and was a nice evening. I would say that Klagenfurt has many similarities to Christchurch, NZ. It has a hospital, an airport, and a university within the city limits. A river runs through Klagenfurt and next to the university (it's bigger and deeper than the Avon though). At the centre of Klagenfurt is a square with a statue and market stalls. Although it's not in the square, there is also a large church. To my amusement I noticed a brothel operating opposite from the church, and pondered breifly to myself the order in which patrons visit the two establishments (sinning, and then repenting, or vice versa). I stopped by nearby bar for a beer (not the brothel), and then tasked myself with the difficulty of getting home again.
Finding my way into town was easy - just walk towards the church spire. At the uni I asked some people which way to the Zentrum and was told to go "Uber der brucke, links, und immer gerade aus" (over the bridge, left, and then keep going). Getting home, however, was slightly more difficult. Yes, I have to walk away from the spires, but in which direction, and I can't exactly ask the way to my hotel now can I? So how to get home? Easy. It's a ranger class-skill called intuit direction. Obviously. I take a bearing of what I sense to be north, and away I go. After ten minutes walking having still not recognised anything I make an executive decision and take a left turn, which leads me to the Hospital. Twenty minutes after cutting through the hospital in search of a backtrack (or a taxi by this stage) I find Feldkirkner Strasse (which I wrote down on my way in). I momentarily revel in my victory over maps, taxis and other common sense approaches, and head for my hotel with a healthy appetite.

Friday 06/10:
Check out at 7:30am. Head to work, and pass the day on the mini-project I've been toying with. At 5pm Kurt drops me to the airport. The flight is delayed, and my connecting flight is brought forward by half an hour, which means that my flight to Zurich boards at one end fo the airport as I land at the other. Fantastic. Well at least I wasn't the only one running to the terminal.
Land in Zurich, take the train to Murgenthal, walk home to Fulenbach, and get home just on midnight. Find my clothes washed and my bed made. Thanks Sonya. :)

So, that was my eventful week. Tomorrow (Sunday) I'll go to Roger's birthday party, and then on Monday morning I get to repeat it all again. Chances are I'll be spending most of October in Klagenfurt... what a shame... :)

Yesterday Emil and I returned from a trip to the mountains in Wallace. It's been a fantastic weekend, complete with tunnels, mountains, remote hotels, drinking and cheese... oh the cheese. This weekend has shown me what it truly means to be Swiss, and I hope to share this insight with you. Lend me your ears (well, your eyes really), and I'll tell you.

We packed on Friday night and left early on Saturday morning. I had foolishly agreed to spend time with some friends on Friday afternoon, which ended up being Friday night, and I caught all of five hours sleep. I managed to rise at 6am, but slept through most of the drive to Kandersteg, and also slept through the railway tunnel through the mountains to Goppenstein. The railway tunnel is a good example of Swiss engineering. You drive aboard a train on one side of the mountain, and after a 15min transit through the mountain you disembark on the other side. If you wish (or if you board the wrong train) you can continue all the way to Italy.

We drove on to Brig at which point we turned into a small valley and parked the car at a quaint mountain village. Quaint, I believe, being the perfect adjective for describing this village. It was so... Swiss. Many of the houses are log cabins (see above-right photo) with stone tiled roofs which have been raised above the ground on stilts. Even the more contemporary looking houses sport a similar feel, flowers bloom from window sills and balconies without exception. The second photo I took (adjacent) was from higher up, and shows how the quaintness of the village is mirrored by the land it is nestled in.

My idea of a trip to the mountains involves several days hard walking, crude accommodation (a bunk if you're lucky), and trail rations. My illusions were dispelled when I learned that I would not be requiring my sleeping bag, and that my day pack was big enough to carry everything we would need. We brought sandwiches and bottled water, stayed in a (surprisingly flash) hotel, and ate in the restaurant. In fact, the only reason we walked there is because we chose to. We could have just taken the gondola. Despite being superfluous, the walk made for some good views of the glacier, and I earned some blisters so was happy.

At the top of the steep climb the terrain leveled out to rolling grassy slopes, a small station, and the hotel (here on the map). We quaffed liquid refreshments, checked in, and went for an explore around the settlement. Emil has been here several times in the past, and knows several of the locals. A few hundred metres from the hotel along a dirt track is a Kiosk (basically a dairy). It supplies chocolates, ice creams, beverages, locally made alpine cheeses, and other various sundries. There is a bench and some sun umbrellas, and it serves as a social meeting ground for locals and tourists alike. This particular Kiosk also provided a platter consisting of cheese (Höbel or Alp), pickles, salami and a dark, heavy bread. Emil knew the woman running the Kiosk from a previous visit, and we stopped for a good part of the afternoon busily converting several cheese platters into methane (really, Höbelkase plays hell with my guts, and I definately wasn't alone), and drinking several bottles of red wine (around a litre each). One of the locals, stumbled by (yes, he was already drunk when he arrived), stopped to drink with us and introduced himself as Ivan (the terrible). And it was from Ivan that I first experienced a true Walliser dialect. Now, my Swiss German isn't that bad, and I can hold a rough conversation or at least understand what is being said, but not with Ivan. He had a rich, deep voice that seemed to eminate from his throat, and when he spoke his words sort of ran into each other in a head-on fashion killing all occupants. That, mingled with a drunken slur, and you end up with a very one-sided conversation. Emil seemed to manage okay, but I got the distinct impression he was concentrating.
Eventually the sun began to sink and Ivan had to depart, so we stumbled with him to the Gondola (stopping at the pub for a beer), visited some other friends of Emil's, drank some more wine (by which point exhaustion, hunger, sunburn and wine had worked together to convert the world I knew into one gigantic carousel), and then stumbled back to the hotel. I crashed and burned, sleeping for an hour or two before waking, still drunk, for dinner. The meal was great, though I felt a little out of place being the only person wearing tramping clothes and boots (Emil had brought good clothes and two extra pairs of shoes). I slept lightly, but well enough, and woke the next morning to the sounds of bells tinkling as a heard of goats grazed on the meadow below (evidently, they were wearing the bells). We ate a breakfast of fruits, muesli, cereal, breads, crossoints, cheeses, meats, and boiled eggs, and checked out.

We headed along a track leading up the mountain to the nearest peak, and the journey took maybe two hours or so. There was lots of fog and high cloud obscuring the view, but it was great when it cleared. We took some photos, had lunch, and headed back down to the Kiosk where we ate some more cheese, drank only one (500ml) bottle of wine, and bought two kilos of cheese to take home. We took an alternate route to the carpark, and I drove back the way we came to Fulenbach.

In other news, work starts next Monday. Flights have been arranged for me to go to Austria for the next two weeks (returning for the weekends). Very exciting.

Also, tonight I went to look at the Kung-fu club in Olten, and was... disappointed. It seems that the training I did at Chans in NZ has completely biased my opinion of what a martial art should be. What I saw was really glorified fitness training. When I arrived they were skipping (with skipping ropes) to music, and when I left they were... skipping to music. They did do some shadow boxing (to music), but I saw no technique in it. I may be wrong, but I doubt that anyone there knew how to correctly execute a palm strike (emphasis on correctly). However what they lacked (as I saw it) in technique and execution, they made up for in speed and vigour, and there's no doubt that they were fit.

I've made some additions to the blog template. I've added a link to a map of Fulenbach (centered on my house), and a calendar so people can see what I'm up to. (I have a haircut tomorrow... exciting, huh?) I also added some google ads just for shits and giggles. I don't expect to earn anything, but as a set of links that update themselves, it's interesting.

Well, that's been an unusually long dribble from me. I'll write more when I'm able and have more to write about.

Well, I've found work. It was there, and I found it. Real work. IT work. Work that is actually worth getting up in the morning for (well, time will tell, but I'm confident). Details? Well, it's an entry-level Java Programming position based in Zurich for a relatively small firm who takes on contracts for various bidders. My first project will be for UBS (holy crap!), one of Switzerland's major banks. I start on October the 1st, so I have a little free time.
Anyhow, that's my big excitement for the moment, and an update is long overdue so I have a number of other interesting happenings that I ought to share.

Lets see... Oh yes, we went to a gig by a group named Strawberry Jam in the neighbouring town Neuendorf. We (Emil, Sonya, Claudia and myself) bustled in and occupied a table towards the the back of the tent/marquee that had been built. For CHF20 (approx. NZ$25) we got a drink, a meal, and a show, and what a show it was. They played blues/rock covers from popular English titles, and were convincing enough to have the crowd dancing on benches, tables, and other elevated surfaces. Some people (ie. Sonya) even swung from fixtures on the tent wall. Yes, we had a very good time, got very drunk, and stayed very late, and since Emil and Sonya had gone home at the reasonable hour of 1-2am, we walked home through the forest around 5-6am. Fortunately I (okay, we) found the way, although Claudia was bitterly objectionable about my walking pace. I don't see what the problem was. We got there in 40 mins instead of what... sleeping under a tree?

Roleplaying. Our long awaited roleplaying chapter has finally been concluded. Basically, our party went bad, resistance was futile, and those on the side of righteousness were too surprised and disorganised to do anything constructive. The result? Slaughter, flight, and the prevailence of darkness. The moral? Evil wins every time. How galling.
On an associated note, I have completed the journal from our adventure into Hell. At 16 pages, it's pretty decent. It's also one reason why I haven't been updating my blog regularly. If I manage to get it uploaded anywhere I'll link to the PDF from this post, as it's not really relevant to post in this blog.

I've spotted a Kung-Fu/Thai Kickboxing outfit in Olten, which I might check out if I have time, though my first impression is that it'll be pretty rough-and-tumble sort of stuff. It's not that I don't enjoy a bit of healthy violence, it's just that I have a history for damaging myself in the name of good harmful fun.

The Chilbi is a fair that moves from town to town, and it came to Fulenbach a few weeks back. The town shuts down the main street, and people clamber out of their holes to have a bit of a social evening (although the term 'social evening' for me seems to entail getting rediculously drunk, and stumbled home at 6am). So I'm wandering around at the Fulenbach Chilbi and keeping an eye out for Emil, Sonya and co. whom I'd lost, and as I'm standing by the dodgem cars listening to the music they're playing, the music changes to something... distantly familiar. Listening more carefully now, the bass beat is very distinct. Boom boom-boom boom boom... It brings me back to my gaming days, and reminds me oddly enough of FCC, and then I recognise the song and almost fall over laughing. Why? Because here I am in a quaint country swiss village, waiting by the children's entertainment, and they are playing 'I wanna f*ck you in the ass' by the Outhere Brothers. Now normally that is funny enough, but then something even funnier happens: nothing. Complete normality ensues. The children play, the adults watch, and the elderly chitchat. In fact, the only cause for concern was some foreigner cracking up for no apparent reason (me). You'd think that lyrics that read 'I can't wait to get you home 'cos I'm gonna make you moan' would cause a stir in a small catholic town, but then, people would first have to understand them first, wouldn't they? The song had been remixed, and the lyrics were so muddy that even during the chorus (which is repitition of the song title) I had to strain my ears to confirm what I thought I was actually hearing. Thus, even the English speakers in the town didn't pick up what was being played to their children. One thing I would dearly have liked to know, is did the DJ actually know what he was playing? Was it a cruel joke, or an ignorant blunder?

No photos for this post (though photos from the Strawberry Jam gig can be found here) as I haven't taken any, but now that I've found a way I've been uploading pics into my previous posts.

Today is a cantonal (provincial) holiday in Solothurn, so have the time to write a quick update. What am I saying? I always have the time, but today I can be bothered. As many holidays are, today’s holiday was inspired by Catholicism. Canton Solothurn is officially Catholic so we celebrate it, however the neighbouring town Murgenthal (walking distance) is across the border and part of the neighbouring canton which is not Catholic, so they get to work today. That’ll teach ‘em.

In other news, I went to the Street Parade in Zurich in the weekend just gone. It was definitely an eye-opener. I am now determined to find some alternative webspace to load pictures, as I feel that some things simply cannot be explained in words. I didn’t stay very long though, and was home by 8pm. I think I can pretty accurately imagine what it would be like with 800,000 ravers in the rain after dark, and didn’t feel so compelled to experience it.
[ed. 22/09/2006: There are photos and video feeds available from the official Street Parade 2006 website. I may also at some stage add a selection of the photos I took.]


I’ve started back at the MigrosSchule learning German now that the summer holidays are over. There are some new faces, and a few less old ones.

Good news on the roleplaying front… I’ve got a American contact in Lucern who’s apparently experienced. See what happens.
[ed. 18/09/2006: I received this automated email from www.meetup.com which I found humorous enough to warrant sharing. See if you can spot the flaw in their mail program...]

Sent: Tuesday, July 18, 2006 4:28 PM
Subject: You're signed up for Dungeons & Dragons Meetup Alerts!
> As soon as someone starts holding Dungeons & Dragons Meetups
> near you we'll alert you through email.
>
> Don't want to wait for someone else to start holding Meetups?
> Start a Dungeons & Dragons Meetup Group yourself! It's fun,
> affordable and satisfying -- and the 0 other D&D Players nearby
> would probably love to join the group. Click the link below to
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> http://dnd.meetup.com/create/?ic=en13
>
> Not interested? Meetup's not just for Dungeons & Dragons. Check
> out the other Meetups in and around Bern:
> http://www.meetup.com/cities/ch/bern/
>
> All the best,
>
> The team at Meetup.com

First, my apologies for anyone who has been paying attention to this blog. I have had plenty of chances to write more, but I’ve been lacking the motivation to sit down and write about things I’ve already experienced. Blogging is like being force-fed deja-vu. (History in comparison is interesting, because I wasn’t around to experience it.) Also I have had some difficulty uploading images to the blog, which vexes me greatly and has given me further reason to boycott blogging. In fact, the reason I’ve managed to find the time now to write a little (other than the constant encouragement from folks back home), is that it’s raining, it’s Sunday, and I’m a touch unwell (just a mild cold or somesuch) so I’m staying home. I think that if I ever write a book, it would definately have a beginning.
[ed 09/09/2006: To my relief and your anticipation I have finally figured out a dodgy workaround for uploading pictures, and have added these pictures in retrospectively. Please bear this in mind as you read my bitter complaints about not being able to upload pictures, as they were relevant at the time, even though there are pictures now.]
SO, what’s happened since last time? Hrrm… heaps of stuff. Lets see. Went traveling around Switzerland with Max for three weeks, which was great. Got all the obligatory stuff out of the way, such as the compulsory health insurance (krankekasse), registering with the local council (gemaindecouncil), telling the military I’m here so they can draft me (sextionchef)… you know the usual stuff. Anyways, with Max’s help, by the time he returned to NZ I was pretty much set up (or at least, I wouldn’t be deported).
What else? Oh yes, Grosvater’s 90th birthday party. That was great. I have HEAPS of photos to show you all but… oh, yeah. I can’t upload them. Woo-friggedy-hoo. The party was great. I had no idea I had so many relatives all over the place. It’s kind of a strange concept. Later on I brought down my guitar (actually it’s Grosmoiti’s guitar which I’d restrung with strings given to me by Paul and Mike – thanks guys – which are now broken – sorry guys) and kicked some tunes. My cousins Karin and Nicole were my groupies, and the Asshole song went off, though I’m not sure how Karin took to being told to shut up and sing the song, Pal.
Job searching has been as productive as… well, something very unproductive. I got a job interview in Zurich a while back with an IT personnel company, but nothing has come of it. On Friday I registered with a temping agency, which if anything will get me some nice labouring job in a recycling plant. When I can I help my uncle Emil or his son (my cousin) Roger with schreinerei (woodworking) work, or else I’ve just been doing lots of firewood. Judging by the quantity of firewood we are storing, I had not previously expected the winter to be as cold as I now think it will be.
I’ve been to a few fests (festivals) and parties around the place. It’s ridiculous – there’s almost a fest every fortnight in at least one of the neighboring dorfs (villages). All I can say is that Paul was right. The fests are amazing, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen one like it in NZ without Swiss influence. You need: 1 marquee, several rows of tables and benches, possibly a stage if you have live music, a kitchen/bar, and several wandering waiting staff. Voila! People meander in and sit down (it doesn’t matter with whom), order something to eat or drink, and the night unfolds. It’s very social, and it’s great. Every now and then a large town holds a fest. I went to one in Biel a month back, and will go next weekend to a street party in Zurich. They’re different than the small town fests. They close down a portion of the town, and people come and set up stalls all along the roadside. It’s very interesting to wander around and have a look at the wares, but you really need to be with friends (fortunately, I was in excellent company).
I’ve done an overnight walk in the Berner Oberland with a friend Matthais that Max and I made while walking in Kandersteg. Again I have lots of photos, but if you want to see them you need to send abusive mail to admin@blogspot.com.
[ed 10/09/2006: I have rescaled and uploaded some of the images I took from the trip which begs more explanation, so I have included the next paragraph.]
We drove into the Berner Oberland (mountains around Bern) to the Grimselsee (Lake Grimsel). It's an artifical lake that forms part of a series of hydro dams in the valley, but is relatively quite high up and makes for good walking. We skirted around the true left side of the lake (the left side if you are heading downstream, which was our right) and walked accross the sandy plains before the glacier. We followed a well marked path onto the glacier (no ice, just rock so no crampons or ice axe required) and up a very steep moraine wall to the hut where we stopped for a bit. We watched a family of mountain goats licking a large (I would presume salty) boulder, asked the hut warden about crossing the glacier (which was apparently not wise) and headed down again to make camp on a quaint spot near the glacial river. Next morning we packed up and taking the warden's advice, headed back the way we came to the parked car. I was extremely tired, and fell asleep in the car. We stopped for a quick dip in a lake (I forget which) and headed home. Great trip.
I’ve done a quick search for Kung-Fu clubs, and found one maybe in Zurich, but it’s very traditional (I’m talking tiger claw, knife-strikes-bamboo kind of stuff), and… it’s in Zurich.
I’ve also been trying to find some roleplayers here in Switzerland, but being an English system DnD is not so popular here. I’ve spotted a few folks in Austria and Germany however but no dice yet, so to speak.
I think that’s about it for the moment. If I think of anything else I need to say, I’ll write it in my next post… whenever that is, if I remember it. Yeah.

Hokies everybody – take care and flick me a mail if you want to get in touch.

-Marco out.

It’s taken me some time to organise power to my laptop and an internet connection, hence the delay in posting this blog. In fact, at the time of this writing don’t have an internet connection. We’ve jerry-rigged a swiss power socket so I can use my laptop, and will post the blog once I can connect to the net.

June 1, 2006:
The flight to Switzerland was smooth enough. I spent most of my waking hours watching movies, the last two of which were The Promise and Freedom Land. My memory of the other movies are blurry and will remain so until something jogs it. The intra-venous entertainment drip was pulled at Singapore airport for 4 hours between flights. The airport is strikingly well described as a Siamese-twin octopus. It has two heads (terminals T1 and T2 are connected by skytrain or travelator). Each terminal has four tentacles (arms), and each of it’s arms has between 4 and 10 suckers (gates). I took a shower and then tried a Singapore Sling cocktail. It was served in a cocktail glass, garnished with straw, pineapple, cherry and umbrella, tasted sweet and tangy, and was bright pink. Thank heavens I was at the sports bar, though I did get some questioning looks from the other beer-drinking, football-watching blokes there. The airport has everything. It has an orchid garden (very beautiful, complete with fish pond), a fern garden (I know about ferns, so I didn’t care), a waterfall, and an outdoors sunflower garden. I paid a brief visit to the sunflower garden, but after two minutes in the sweltering dampness, the air conditioning beckoned. At one stage I enquired at a computer shop whether I could buy a modem for my laptop. I was politely informed that Singapore had advanced from the stone age to more effective forms of communication. They only sold wi-fi, however I could pick up some cheap smoke-signal equipment so long as I didn’t bring it on the plane. I got lost, got unlost, and battled to stay awake until the second flight. Once aboard I slept in semi-comfort, and woke four or five hours prior to landing in Zurich at 0630.

June 2, 2006:
By contrast, Zurich airport is metallic, automated, and spacious (Singapore airport is vast, but not spacious). You get out of the plane, down an escalator, and then wait at the platform below for a train which pulls up and takes you under the runway to the main terminal building. I was expecting a group of yodeling, alp-horn playing farmers to welcome us to Switzerland, but evidently an underground railway and a pan flute-playing busker was considered sufficient. You can take trolleys up escalators, and they somehow don’t tip and fatally crush you (I didn’t learn this empirically — it was pointed out to me as I was pondering how to get my luggage up to the lift). My uncles (önkels) Emil and Peter met me at the airport and drove me to the family home in Fulenbach, after which I then battled to stay awake until 10pm so I would wake at a reasonable hour. The drive was just plain confusing. There seemed something fundamentally wrong with driving 120km/hr on the right hand side of the road in heavy traffic and not having a head-on collision. Intersections made little sense, and I almost panicked when we went the wrong way around a round-about. The countryside is picture-perfect. Fields are green, the hills are rolling, and towns are quaint and colourful. Everything seems to reflect history. I saw my first castle. It is apparently used as a prison nowadays, and though it was originally used to keep invaders out, its function has evidently since been reversed. It actually looked quite appealing if you could get a room with a view.
I can’t get over how organized and thought out everything is. Even nature seems to conform. Everything is so idyllic and perfect. Power poles are planted in perfectly aligned rows which span the country. Deer roam wild through the fields with their fawns. Bird houses have been built and hung in the forests. Dedicated bicycle lanes go everywhere. Houses have double glazing, heavy doors, shutters on windows, central heating, thick solid walls, and an entire underground level. The downside of this is that the Swiss can be retentive somewhat. You don’t walk through paddocks, as you’ll flatten the farmer’s grass. When my dad was young, one of the nearby farmers placed a big rock in the grass at the side of the road to teach drivers who cut the curb. The rock is still there.

June 6, 2006:
Today is my fifth day in Switzerland. My dad arrived two days ago, and today we went to register with at the local council, and to open a bank account. The bank account was no difficulty at all, so I can begin my international money laundering operation right away. Registering as a citizen of Fulenbach will take a little longer, as they need my birth certificate (to verify place of birth) and I only had my passport handy (which does not). They are a separate governmental division from the one that actually has a copy of my birth certificate, which can be provided at a small cost of 30Fr. Hence, Rowena is kindly sending the original to me from NZ.
Yesterday we went for a walk in the hills. The first part of the wanderweg (walkway) is forested, and is very beautiful. The top of the hill sports great views across Switzerland, and on a good day (sadly it wasn’t) you can see the alps. Later we came to pastoral land, and I saw and heard my first heard of genuine cowbell wielding cows. It struck me that it is actually very practical, as you can always hear where the heard is. That and you’ll never need to buy a wind chime ever again - listen for yourself. We got talking to a pair of cyclists, one of whom said her brother in law did web design and she would pass on my contact details. I’m not hopeful, but it was a really nice gesture from a complete stranger.

June 7, 2006:
Went for a long bike ride today. We biked through the Nuendorf forest, and came to a farm where I saw my first camel. I remembered Terry Pratchett’s warnings about the mathematical precision of camel spit, and stayed well back. We biked on to Önsingen and visited castle Neu-Bechburg. We ate rhubarb pie with the Christofferos in Hagendorf. A typical lovely Italian family, and the parents of my cousin Roger’s wife, Sandra. In the same town we visited my dad’s cousin Urs Dörfliger, who runs a large (I mean large) metal fabrication company. He said he knows of someone who has an international english-speaking company, and may have work for me.

June 8, 2006:
Went for a drive in the country with the grandparents. Drove into the hills, and walked to a nearby restaurant (as you do) and had Brotworst and Rüsti. We stopped in Aarwangen on the way home. It’s a very old town, and dates back to when the outer wall of a town was a ring of houses. And then we were home.

SINGAPORE A L SQ 298 ECONOMY CLASS CONFIRMED
DEPART THU 01 JUN 06 CHRISTCHURCH 12.55PM
ARRIVE THU 01 JUN 06 SINGAPORE 7.50PM
TOTAL TIME CHRISTCHURCH TO SINGAPORE 10.55

SINGAPORE A L SQ 346 ECONOMY CLASS CONFIRMED
DEPART THU 01 JUN 06 SINGAPORE 11.45PM
ARRIVE FRI 02 JUN 06 ZURICH 6.30AM
TOTAL TIME SINGAPORE TO ZURICH 12.45

You read that? Bookings confirmed! Well, they have been for some time now, however the date is rolling near and with 6 days left I'm realising just how close my departure date is.
The photo on the right was from my farewell party last Saturday. What a blast that was. The boys (flatmates) hauled all our musical gear over to my dads place and we had our first ever live jam. It was great. A bit rough around the edges - probably more tattered, but nevermind - but people actually seemed to enjoy it. Amazing.
Well, I'm just setting up the blog at this stage so that when I actually have something to write home about, I can.